I have increasingly become more and more interested in history and the larger-than-life characters like Sam Houston and Napoleon that helped create it. Now I have found a new muse in the Pirate Jean Lafitte. “The Terror of the Gulf” and “Gentleman Pirate” are just a couple of his nicknames but I like “the Pirate that Saved America” the most. He did have an incredible story – quite a page turner if you have the time. I’m not going into all of his exploits here but he did make Galveston, Tx his home base for a while. Until the U.S. Navy removed him:
In 1821, the schooner USS Enterprise was sent to Galveston to remove Lafitte from the Gulf. One of the pirate’s captains had attacked an American merchant ship. Lafitte agreed to leave the island without a fight, and on May 7, 1821 departed on The Pride. His men burned the Maison Rouge, fortress and settlement.He reportedly took immense amounts of treasure with him, and was accompanied by his mulatto mistress and an infant son. All that remains of Maison Rouge is the foundation, located at 1417 Harborside Drive near the Galveston wharf. – Wikipedia
That very foundation of the house is what is photographed below. I could imagine him walking up and down those stone stairs. It’s amazing the historical secrets that may exist in your own backyard. I will challenge myself to find as many of them as I can. By the way, “Maison Rouge” or Red House sounds like a great name for a gentleman’s club. Well, it does…
