The Victorian Bishop's Palace, a limestone and granite castle built in 1886 for Colonel Walter Gresham, has 11 rare stone and wood mantels and a wooden staircase that took 61 craftsmen seven years to carve. (open to the public)
Galveston
Named for Bernardo de Galvez, a Spanish colonial governor and general, Galveston Island has been occupied since the 1500's, as a home to Akokisa Indians, Jean Lafitte, and has been known as "Little Ellis Island".
The privateer (pirate) Jean Lafitte arrived on the island in 1817 making it his base of operations for boarding houses for visiting buyers, a shipyard, saloons, pool halls, gambling, houses, and Lafitte's own mansion, the "Maison Rouge."