Standing in Galveston - Top 10 Best Careers and Travel Sites

Galveston Island, City of Galveston, and Galveston Bay are home to a place that was voted into the Top 100 Greatest Places to Stand in America for photo taking, on the website StoodThere.com in 2009. Readers voted on the site to choose Moody Gardens as Number 20 Greatest Place. However, friends of mine that grew up in Galveston contend that the whole area is the greatest place in the USA! Some moved away and returned in order to retire in Galveston.

The northern part of Galveston Island is home to the Scholes International Airport, with Moody Gardens directly adjacent to airport property. Both sit near the shore near Offatts Bayou, a natural waterscape that is also used to observe natural actions in the development of ecological features.

The Moody Gardens complex, International Airport, and nearby Galveston Community College Fort Crockett and the historic Fort Crockett Seawall Park are located on the Gulf of Mexico about 40 miles to the southeast of the Houston metroplex, along highway I-45.

If you fly into the airport, you are already at the site of Moody Gardens, Offatts Bayou, and the Lone Star Flight Museum, with gorgeous views of the Galveston Causeway bridge to the northwest and the 61st street bridge to the east of the Moody Gardens pyramids. The Galveston Place shopping district is less than half a mile to the east of the airport and the large Schreiber Park is south of the airport.

The Moody Foundation was established in 1942 after many years of extraordinarily successful business operations in the Moody family. These businesses included banking, newspapers, and several others that generate high revenues. Since 1942, the Foundation has been a non-profit corporation run in partnership with the City of Galveston on several levels of operations. For example, the Foundation paid for the refurbishing and updating of the Galveston Golf Course nearby.

Founded by William Lewis Moody, Jr. and wife Libbie Shearn Moody, the Foundation has focused its work on disaster relief, education, health, conservation, and historical preservation of Galveston sites, inlcuding meseums. One of their greatest projects is the Transitional Learning Center, which helps those that have sustained brain injuries.

The Moody Gardens Pyramids, dedicated to education adn the enironment, are of three types: Discovery (education and entertainment), Rainforest, and Aquarium. In 2011, the Rainforest Pyramid reconstruction was completed after 9 months and a $25 Million cost. It has become the main attraction of the complex.

Offatts Bayou is a tourist spot and one of many bayous in Texas. An estuary of mixed fresh and salt waters, the bayou is located on the north shore of Galveston Island. From the bayou, visitors can see the pyramids of Moody Gardens. it is also popular for boating, fishing, bird watching, and picnics.

The center of the bayou is covered by a small dead zone in which no oxygen is dissolved in summers and very little is present during the rest of the year. Offatts Bayou has been developing for an observatory of natural processess and may eventually lead to explanations for some of our nation's mysterious and sudden bird and fish kills in the 2010s. Texas A & M University located nearby makes regular studies of the bayou.

Galveston Historic Districts

One major district runs along Harborside Drive on the north side of the island from Offatts Bayou, I-45, and the Strand Historic District Office and Galveston Shrimp Company to the University of Texas Medical College and the East End Historic District (about 4 miles). Public art carvings from local trees uprooted by hurricane winds in the past have been placed around the Historic District (see the carved herons in the photo to the right). The Silk Stocking National Historic District is located south of Broadway and north of Seawall Blvd and is smaller than others, commemorating the American Civil War Era. A few other historic areas are also on walking tours of the city.

In June 2011, Galveston received federal funding help and City Council approved permits for a $4.5 Million Transit Terminal and parking garage. This ups the convenience level of travel to and in Galveston - many cities have a downtown terminal, but no parking space. The transit center will include bus service and be located in the Strand National Historic Landmark District (Reference: Galveston County Daily News, June 24, 2011). See the top map above on this page.

The Strand Downtown District and other portions of Galveston were first settled (after the Native Americans) by the pirate Jean Lafitte and his crew, according to the city historical records and several Strand websites.

With the new transit center in place, travel the length of the island will be faster and easier, and more visitors can enjoy additional museums, veterans' monuments, the floating tall ship museum Elissa, and the Pelican Island sites just north of Galveston Island. There are dozens of additional places to visit.

Ongoing research and action are restoring reef building and oyster populations in Galveston Bay, located between Galveston Island and Houston. Local college students have planted native marsh grasses in the area. Other native plant and animal species are supported by various related projects with the aim of restoring the total ecological habitat of Galveston Bay and creating opportunitites for viewing the wildlife and native plants. A Bay Family Day is held every year to celebrate the bay.

Glen Campbell recorded the pop song Galveston long ago in the late 1960s. Seemingly a love story, the song is also about a young man drafted and sent off to serve in the Viet Nam Conflict of the period. It was a time of turmoil and protest in America. However, Campbell entertained the public weekly on his television series, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour .

The song's author, Jimmy Webb, reportedly stated that the song was more about the Spanish American War and he involvement in it of the CIty of Galveston. Galveston reached #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 .

In early 2011, Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and planned to release his last studio album, Ghost on the Canvas, later in that year, beginning in late August on his Glen Campbell Goodbye Tour.

See Glen Campbell Moves to an Alzheimer's Care Facility - The country music star plays his guitar for other clients at the facility's large living room and music seems to help his memory. He and his family are recording a documentary about his stay there.

Much of Texas seemed relatively untouched by the Recession of 2008 - 2010, retaining jobs and creating new ones, where many other US States lost significant numbers of jobs. In late June 2011, Galveston possessed listings for approximately 5,000 job openings. The city of over 47,743 in US Census2010 expects to increase Tourism and jobs with the construction of its new Transit Center and other city and business programs.

Early 2014 saw job listings of 11,680+ in Galveston, the highest demand jobs being:

1. Nurses - RNs and LPNs
2. Physical Therapy Assistants
3. Physical Therapists
4. Truckers: Owner Operators
5. Company Truck Drivers
6. IT Engineers
7. Energy-related Engineers
8. Salespeople and Cashiers, some bi-lingual
9. Occupational Therapists
10. Store Managers and Assistant Managers

Other High Demand Jobs: Engineers, IT Project Leaders, Financial Managers, School Bus Drivers, and CSRs.

1. HCA Healthcare and HCA Gulf Coast Division
2. UTMB Health
3. Swedish Medical Center
4. Clear Lake Regional Medical Center
5. CHRISTUS Health
6. Taco Bell
7. Telereach Corporate
8. Mainland Medical Center
9. Search One
10. Safeway- Groceries/Supermarkets
11. United Planning Group
12. HCR Manorcare
13. US Resources Healthcare
14. Cyberonics
15. BP

• Galveston College

• Texas A & M at Galveston

• University of Texas Medical Branch