GULF COAST CARAVAN

[Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen this is jack douglas tonight's armchair vacation covers a lot of ground so we'll really have to move along this map shows the general contour of america's coastline on the gulf of mexico a coastline that has been called america's riviera tonight and next week we're going to explore this vast stretch of land and sea from pensacola to the southernmost point in texas this will be a caravan by in every sense of the word a gulf coast caravan what appears to be the last of the winter snow is actually sand the light sands of pensacola pensacola beach has long been famous as the whitest sand beach in the world stretching for 50 miles on the gulf coast miracle strip and pensacola's escambia bay is noted for its natural scenic beauty enhanced by spanish moss dogwood and azaleas [Music] this new three-mile bay bridge connects offshore pensacola with a city proper a city with a rich history spanning more than 400 years a city first colonized in 1559 long before jamestown and plymouth the colonizer was don tristan de luna who landed at pensacola with 1500 soldiers and settlers under the flag of spain four other flags have flown over the city french british us and the confederacy the pensacola navy yard is certainly one of the city's most popular tourist attractions the yard was originally a base used by the navy to rid the gulf of pirates in the early 1800s well modern-day pirates would be no match at all for pensacola's blue angels the jet squadron that specializes in stunt flying this small building at the naval air station is also worth the visit the naval aviation museum where your attention will focus on this airplane the n3n but more affectionately known to naval flyers as the yellow peril the plane used to train thousands of cadets before and during world war ii and here's a reminder of how times have changed the jt3c turbojet engine used to power the biggest transport and bomber planes of today this small section of the museum will certainly get bigger as time goes on the astronaut display center these are the wings worn by astronaut scott carpenter on his historic space flight of 1962 and hear a photograph of america's first astronautic team changing the subject quickly but briefly it's worth mentioning that the coast guard maintains a lighthouse at pensacola with tours at 2pm on saturdays sundays and holidays there are numerous forts in the pensacola area and two of these are moted forts san carlos dating back to 1696 and barrancas built in 1828. the most interesting of the forts however is pickens on nearby santa rosa island fort pickens was established in 1829 and is best known as the place where the apache geronimo was imprisoned from 1886 to 88 together with his small band of followers and his seven wives this is the geronimo cell window the fort also has the usual array of ancient canon some dating back to the revolution and the gun which at the time revolutionized warfare the gatling gun model 1890. here now is a touch of believe it or not the jail that became an art museum until 1956 this was pensacola's city jail replaced by a new building it was taken over by the pensacola art association and to my knowledge it's the only museum in the jail in the usa leaving pensacola it's only a few miles to the border of alabama where our first stop will be the grand hotel at point clear on mobile bay this is the third of the grand hotels to occupy the point since 1840 and i doubt if its predecessors had a lovelier setting in addition to ocean swimming the hotel has a giant sized pool 140 feet in diameter a fine yacht basin and an excellent golf course where even the pin flags remind us that we are very much in the heart of dixie mobile is slightly older than pensacola just 27 years after columbus discovered america the spanish dropped anchor in what is now the port of mobile later during the french reign it was the first capital of the louisiana territory mobile is alabama's only ocean seaport but it outranks such ports as boston and san francisco in trade and is third among southern seaports after houston and new orleans at the docks or in the city you'll hear a lot about oliver winslow's oyster house it isn't a fancy place but if you like seafood you're likely to become addicted to winslow oysters are served fried stewed and nude terminology that reflects the fun living spirit of the owner the walls are literally covered with signs of all sizes for which ali gave us this explanation jack the reason i have so many signs in this place my customers would come in and ask me different questions about oysters how they grow and if they really change sex and how we planted them and all and i got to put these signs on the wall so today i have 5 000 good clean signs we've been in this same location for 26 years and we always get our customers three or four times because they can't read all our signs in one sitting our friends come from all over the world i believe in the personal touch through the years i have written over ten thousand recipes for my customers all right duncan hines never ate here he couldn't find a stool and below it in small letters my book for a dollar is no steal after you've read it you'll know you've been robbed and the wisdom of oysters deserves admiration they manage to get a four months vacation well it's quite a place whistles in mobile mobile's magnificent azalea trail is and this is purely my own opinion mobile's number one attraction the azalea trail is actually a 35 mile drive which loops through and around the city's finer residential areas [Music] at about the halfway point on the azalea trail are the long gardens named after the earl longs who first began developing the ten acres surrounding their home back in 1935 in september tens of thousands of camellias burst into bloom and the vivid colors remain well past february when the majestic azaleas crown the fresh green lawns the word is spectacular [Music] [Applause] traces of the french influence are apparent in this beautiful old home the richards house it's one of mobile's architectural masterpieces and the intricately fabricated iron balconies tell the story of the four seasons of mobile's historic homes none is finer or more elegant than oakley which received its name from the many tall oaks surrounding it oakley is not only charming but has had a charmed existence no violence has ever marred this elegant house and grounds a room on the second floor of oakland is devoted to memorabilia of the mobile mardi gras and in mobile they will cite chapter and verse to prove that their mardi gras is older than that of new orleans well this much is certain mobile is the mother of mystic societies social groups really dedicated almost entirely to fun and hijinks there's this and more at oakley mobile's official antebellum home and the highlight of our gulf coast depot at pascagoula mississippi hardly does justice to the importance of the small gulf coast city at least from the vacationers point of view first there is the long fellow house where the great poet is said to have written his poem building of the ship true or not the poem does contain the line from pascagoula sunny bay and here indeed is the bay as longfellow described it then there is spanish fort one of america's oldest fortified outposts built in 1718. this primitive indian canoe dates back to the 11th century according to the smithsonian institute the word pascagoula by the way is indian and means bread eater spanish fort is the burial place of the krebs family the same france kreb who apparently invented the cotton gin 20 years before eli whitney we're on the highway that borders the gulf at biloxi mississippi ahead is the biloxi lighthouse which has had a most exciting history for example during the war between the states its apparatus was hidden and following the assassination of president lincoln this mississippi lighthouse was painted black [Music] biloxi labels itself the riviera of the south and for starters it offers gulf beach a 26-mile strip that is the longest man-made beach in the world you don't have to rough it in biloxi and as evidence here are random scenes from half a dozen different hotels motels and marinas some as new as this morning's newspaper no one can deny the mississippi's headline problems of recent years have not encouraged tourism fortunately the picture is changing and well it should for especially here on the gulf coast mississippi is a tremendous vacation land bargain [Music] biloxi is a paradise for the sports fishermen and this is the kind of a day the anglers cannot resist blue skies gulls screaming for bait and even the churning white wake of the propellers has a hypnotizing effect [Music] this golf fishing is just about unbeatable you'll be casting for dolphins spanish mackerel speckled trout tarpon sheepshead flounder well you name it now these charters are not expensive but you don't have to rent a boat there's a big curving lagoon here which is never crowded and once you wait in the rest of the world seems an ocean away the surf fishing is also excellent so good that even some commercial fishing boats do fairly well without venturing more than a mile or so from shore [Music] [Music] for vacationers who like water but don't particularly care about fishing we'd like to recommend a few hours aboard a homey little excursion boat the sailfish captain joe schultz provides the leisurely commentary welcome to the sailfish into biloxi folks we're going to take you along the east beach section of biloxi and point out some of the historic sites and points of interest as we go along and we'll also tell you a little bit about the seafood industry and something about the folks that work on the work on the boats and then the canneries folks notice the sand beach here on our left this is the easternmost section of the world's longest man-made sand beach this beach is 28 miles long and averages about 300 feet wide back in 1947 we had quite a hurricane along the beach here and after making a survey the u.s soil and erosion board recommended that a sand beach be built to protect the sea wall from future hurricanes so with a one million dollar federal appropriation and about a half million in local funds this sand beach was constructed in 1950 the bridge in the background is a new biloxi ocean springs highway bridge completed three years ago this march at a cost of seven million dollars the draw span has a 100 foot horizontal clearance a 42 foot vertical clearance and can be opened for taller ships now this was built to accommodate the new industrial seaway which is being constructed behind the cities of biloxi and gulfport just beyond this little point that we're passing now up until about six years ago we had quite a character living on the island over here he lived in a shack his name was mr gilhardt or geopronounced in the french now mr gillard moved over to the island here about 35 years ago to escape the last of his nine wives now he figured if he got on an island his wife would be able to get to him and uh if he didn't have any money why she probably wouldn't want to come over to see him anyhow now this old man was quite a crotchety character and uh he was a sort of a self-styled caretaker over here but he was merely a squatter and uh of course he didn't have any more rights over here than anyone else the former captain of this boat finally was able to make friends with this old man by bringing provisions to him coaxed him into singing a song in french and the captain cracked a few jokes with the old man and with that some of the passengers tossed some coins into his robo well believe me he was back every day after that [Music] so that uh it'll be clean when we bring our kids aboard the boat of course we'll be able to pick the fish out if there isn't and of course uh there won't be muddy [Music] after about a minute of net dragging in the same manner as the shrimp boats they dropped the anchor to show the passengers what the mets have caught we asked captain schultes if the net ever comes up empty well he couldn't remember the last time it happened and to prove his point we were anchored now in shallow water captain joe plunged the scooper into the water just one scoop was all it took and up came a dozen oysters which incidentally did not last very long well the catch from the net is tossed to the gulls which follow the sailfish out of sheer habit now watch these scenes very closely and i think you'll be able to see the gulf actually catch the fish in midair [Music] at biloxi is throughout our gulf coast caravan we saw the glorious old homes of the old south homes that are part of america's heritage not merely that of the southern states each mansion has its own colorful history but few can match beauvoir the last home of jefferson davis the president of the confederacy this is beauvoir which as the marker indicated became a home for confederate veterans in 1903. finally in 1941 it was converted into a confederate shrine and here for the last 12 years of his life lived the man who was shamefully imprisoned for crimes he had not committed jefferson davis lived to a ripe old age as did his wife varena the house is full of personal belongings a harp made in england and played by his daughter winnie the chair used by davis as a us senator a picture of mr and mrs davis made shortly after his release from prison now the reward poster for his capture one hundred thousand dollars in gold a newspaper clipping a drawing depicting his capture and now another drawing showing the confederate president in his prison cell at fort monroe and then the historic bail bond posted by sympathetic northerners such as horace greeley and cornelius vanderbilt it was during those last remaining years at beauvoir the jefferson davis wrote his classic two-volume history the rise and fall of the confederate government his last act of service to the south gulfport where your ship comes in according to the chamber of commerce is next door to biloxi boating and sailing are very large here and when the youngsters aren't in school they're sure to be found sailing these tiny skimmers around the bay they were practically raised in these sailboats and they handled them like real sailors well it happens biloxian gulfport would be our last stop before new orleans so at sundown we have a chance to think back and recall some added attractions duffeen island near mobile is being developed into quite an attractive settlement it has about it a windswept feeling of excitement which is in sharp contrast to these beautiful homes the building on the right is the country club and the course is something to marvel at but take a tip from a hacker you golfers because of the sea breezes those putting greens are lightning fast this cannon at fort gaines also on dauphine island overlooks the waters where farragut issued his stern command darn the torpedoes full speed ahead or words to that effect this by the way is the wheel from his flagship and how many millions of worshipping young hands have touched the wheel with reverence don't be alarmed at these alligators they've been placed here by local trappers to give the children some g-whiz stories to tell about fort gaines now back at mobile we were very impressed by the azalea trail not a part of the trail but a few miles away are the famous bellendra gardens and here again is the classic example of private citizens preserving for their fellow countrymen and vacationers from around the world a sample of the beauty of america religion is deeply rooted here on the gulf coast there are the old churches such as the episcopal church of the redeemer which was the church of jefferson davis and other famous southern figures this by the way is the original davis pew on a modern note is saint michaels at biloxi one of the newer and most attractive houses of worship on the entire coastline the gulf coast is also rich in history and historic names prince maydock of wales who supposedly came to america 300 years before columbus the de sotos and the pirate patriots jean-pierre lafitte the people the places the names the faces they are all a part of your gulf coast caravan next week our gulf coast caravan arrives in new orleans and from that colorful city we hug the coastline to finish up at brownsville texas here now are scenes from the concluding portion of our journey i'm sure [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] i do hope you'll be able jack douglas with a brief introduction to tonight's colorful armchair vacation last week we began a two-part caravan by car of the gulf coast from pensacola florida to brownsville texas at pensacola we saw the navy's world-famous precision flying squadron the blue angels and we took time out to recall the 400 year old background of this historic city a history dating back to the spanish conquistadors to the glorious heyday of the confederacy and at fort pickens a glimpse of the cell where the incredible geronimo was held captive well then we pushed on to mobile alabama paying tribute to the poet priest of the south father ryan and also in mobile we took a tour of the azalea trail one of the most unique trails in all america and then we closed last week's program in mississippi at biloxi in gulfport marveling at the world's longest man-made beach and wishing that we had as few problems as these youngsters enjoying the sun and the sea in their tiny sailboats and now tonight the conclusion of our gulf coast caravan as we journey from new orleans to brownsville texas the southernmost american city on the texas mexico border tonight two of your gulf coast caravan marlins on the mississippi the inland seaport 90 miles from the gulf of mexico and to this day this fabulous city remembers as if it were yesterday the battle of new orleans in the war of 1812. yes the great andrew jackson took part but so did those brothers who couldn't quite make up their minds whether they were pirates or patriots jean-pierre louisiana did not share their uncertainty about 20 miles south of new orleans they named a town after the pirate patriots and it's just about as charming a bayou village as you will ever see here's what i mean [Music] la fete is situated on the bayou known as veritaria and if you were a pirate you couldn't pick a better place to hide your loot or escape capture for especially in those days it was easier to get lost in bayou country than in the sahara desert nowadays you skim through the bayous and outboard driven perogues but in lafitte you don't call them perogues you call them la feet skips again in honor of john pierre and the building of these gifts is big business in lafitte a spec on the map unknown to most of us until this moment but a very charming bayou town houston texas is connected to the gulf by a 50-mile inland channel and this gateway to the sea has made houston one of america's great ports this houston and make no mistake about it is a beautiful city and people who know the city well tell me that it grows more attractive each year well we can't argue with the camera where to stay in houston well the rice hotel is steeped in tradition the recently built hotel america is handsomely stylish and the warwick is just plain elegant you'll be greeted at the door by a doorman impeccably attired and whose memory for names is his chief stock and trade we rode the elevator of the warwick to the very top for a bird's eye view of the fountains we'd heard a lot about them nice yes but perhaps a bit overrated that's what we thought presto here are the same fountains at night positively stunning now what to see and do in houston most vacationers make a beeline for the store which like tiffany in new york has become a tourist landmark neiman marcus of course this view from the outside hardly does justice to a mammoth structure which houston refers to as the eighth wonder of the world the astrodome the world's first indoor stadium from the playing field and incidentally that is real grass you look up 208 feet to the curved dome as high as an 18-story building transparent plastic was used allowing sunlight for day games and nourishment for the grants here the outfield is being given a last-minute manicure in preparation for a night game between the pittsburgh pirates and the houston astros of the national league now even if you're not a sports fan your first visit to the astrodome will be something to talk about you'll sit and cushion the upholstered theater type seats and you will be completely protected from the elements rain wind snow even heat or the cold thanks to the fact that the astrodome is completely air conditioned football baseball rodeos the sport fan never had it so good this statue at hermann park honors the father of texas independence and the man after whom the city of houston has been named of course sam houston the hero of san jacinto the battlefield is just a few miles from downtown houston a truly interesting battle site which you should not bypass it is dominated by the monument said to be the world's tallest soaring skyward 570 feet it is a memorial not only to the heroes of san jacinto but all others who helped win independence for texas the monument is so massive that its base is big enough to house a museum at san jacinto sam houston did more than merely avenge the massacre at the alamo a few weeks earlier in a battle that lasted about 18 minutes houston's forces annihilated the small mexican army under the command of general santana the same santa ana who had ordered the bodies of the alamo dead to be burned rather than buried but how quickly nature heals the ugly scars of battle mort of the san jacinto battleground is the uss texas the only survivor of the dreadnought class of warship she was a veteran of two wars and a dozen campaigns and this once proud battleship was presented to the state of texas by the united states navy may i repeat again that the uss texas is also at the san jacinto battlefield no extra driving no fuss and bother for you and your family to board the last of her kind they have a small admission charge to cover the cost of maintenance i think it's about 20 or 30 cents but believe me it's worth 20 or 30 dollars just to see our youngsters reacting to the thrill and i'll bet they know more about the texas than we do this is nasa the national aeronautics and space administration in clearwater texas 20 miles from houston and the big deal here at nasa is manned spacecraft as a vacationer you can stroll in and out of these buildings on guided tours however people with cameras must have priority clearance two and three weeks in advance well we couldn't wait around for three weeks so we bypassed the buildings however lamb is no secret lem here is merely the abbreviation for lunar excursion module and nasa hopes that this or a similar spacecraft will land on the moon lamb is located on three acres of ground which is landscaped to roughly represent the surface of the moon more or less now there's much more that you can see at nasa than we have been permitted to show but as i've stated we with our cameras were handicapped by security measures and i might add rightfully so it will come as a surprise to some people as it did to me that galveston texas is an island located at roughly the point where the houston channel or waterway spills into the gulf the island itself two miles from the mainland is some thirty miles long and from one to two miles wide galveston is known as the port and playground of the southwest and it offers some of the finest surf bathing on the entire gulf as a rule surfers have a spree but this particular day they had to be content with just a few ripples [Music] lasalle they say discovered the island in 1686 and in 1816 jean lafitte there's that man again made galveston the headquarters for his nefarious operations galveston is the home part of many a shrimp boat and the shrimpers are referred to here abouts as the mosquito fleet the large vessel in the background is the savannah the nuclear transport ship we were told that as of the moment galveston is the only port in the country where the savannah can refuel or recharge whatever the terminology may be here is possibly the best way to see galveston island as a passenger aboard the treasure isle tour train as we chug along we pass the sea wall an outstanding engineering feat which fronts the gulf of mexico the galveston sea wall is 10 miles long 16 feet wide at the base and rises 17 feet above mean low tide the wall was originated in the early 1900s and has been added to periodically but the sea wall has passed the test of time more than half a century of pounding more landmarks come into view from the treasure isle train the texas heroes monument relating to the struggle for independence a 22-foot high bronze figure of victory adorns the top of the granite column bishop's palace built in 1891 of various texas stones is the only building in texas cited by the american institute of architecture as one of the 100 outstanding buildings in the usa throughout the residential section we saw hundreds indeed thousands of oleander bushes for among its many titles galveston is also known as the oleander city this plaque marks the spot where the first oleander was planted in 1841 the plant had been imported from jamaica in the british west indies the seahorse is typical of the excellent family accommodations available to vacationers and texans from the mainland are among galveston's most enthusiastic admirers why well the main reason is water texas proper has precious few lakes and only one or two of any appreciable size so texans flock to the gulf coast it is very much in to own a home on jamaica beach a recent development which reminded us of so many colorful faraway places especially of the south pacific islands notice that the houses are built on stilts or pilings they're 10 feet high for 10 feet is considered safe against even the highest of gulf coast hurricane tides for example when hurricane carla hit the island these pilings were still four feet above the stormy tide here at jamaica beach perhaps influenced by the south sea architecture of the homes they sail tiny outriggers which they call polynesian tikis the twin outriggers attached to the hull make this type of craft much safer than the average small sailboat especially in this choppy surf but parents will be parents and they gather around pretending to be only mildly interested but all the time they're worrying whether or not junior remembered to wear his life jacket these outriggers are built in houston by the way and as of the moment are native to the texas coast we did not see them anywhere else on our gulf coast caravan in the background is about miles south of galveston as the crow flies and roughly 125 miles from the border of mexico at the risk of repeating myself this too struck us as a beautiful city we spent only three days here and perhaps we didn't see every nook and corner but all that we saw the harbor or downtown or the better residential areas was awfully nice to look at and in the residential sections the key word seems to be green like galveston corpus christi is making a determined bid for the vacation trade and well it should just look at that blue gulf beyond the swimming pool but it takes more than swimming pools and blue water to attract many tourists the vacationer looks for fun in the sun and buccaneer days is just what corpus christi has in mind this annual celebration a reminder of the pirates who plundered the coast began in 1938 the celebration gets underway when a bevy of beautiful pirates sail into the yacht basin capture the mayor and demand that he turn over the city to the spirit of the buccaneers for the good of the people of corpus christi this capitulates to those frolicking buccaneers in their quarters for a period of ten days which shall be called buccaneer days celebration may their invasion bring to all of our people their rightful heritage of fun revelry and the full fullest enjoyment of this city's beautiful climate and charming atmosphere it is will of the people and it shall be done mackeever furman mayor of the city of corpus christi texas the city flags are lowered and the pirate emblem is hoisted aloft are these lovely wenches satisfied nope now they take the poor mayor captive aboard the good ship sink or swim and by tradition the mayor must walk the plank watch [Music] [Applause] [Music] i'll tell you the life of a politician gets tougher and tougher in the old days they kissed babies and made promises now they also have to walk the plank buccaneer days ten big days in corpus christi from corpus christi you can explore via these wagon safaris a truly remarkable island you won't find it on a map of the u.s but get an enlarged map of texas and you'll see a long sliver of land running just offshore from corpus christi south toward mexico 113 miles this is padre island pencil thin as islands go never more than three miles wide sometimes only a few hundred yards from one side to the other but padre island is so unusual in so many respects that it has been designated a national seashore of the united states an island under the protection and surveillance of the national park system stay on the island long enough and you'll begin to believe the thousand and one stories of treasure you hear almost every day yes it's true that pieces of eight have been found on padre island but big treasure no however now and then the shifting sands and the tide will disclose less spectacular but equally satisfying finds bottles dating back to the pirate days shells of every variety driftwood glass floats from portugal yes and even human bones of civilizations past this was later identified as a bone from the skeleton of indians who inhabited the island as far back as the early 1500s much of padre island seems to be and is lonely and desolate but at night with your companions from the safari wagons a big bonfire is all you need for a bit of reassurance [Music] brownsville texas the last stop on our gulf coast caravan the southernmost american city short of the mexican border the dividing line is the rio grande what do you say about a place like brownsville well you observe that the city hall is more mexican in architecture than american you observe that the city honors its founding fathers and speaking of founders this was the home of charles stillman the founder of brownsville circa 1850 now i think that most of us have a great curiosity about other people's houses and i think this is particularly true when we visit a home that has been inhabited by not one or two but many generations who were the people who lived here what were they like what were their hopes their dreams their fears we look and we guess but we will never know [Music] yes brownsville does have a few other tourist attractions but brownsville's number one claim to fame is that at this point the fantabulous rio grande which has its source in the rockies of colorado spills into the gulf of mexico this is journey's end one of the most legendary rivers on the face of the earth [Music] across the river from brownsville is the mexican town of matamoros and you'd better believe it this place is a charmer personally i would place it second only to juarez on the entire mexican border matamoros like juarez cannot seem to make up its mind whether it is mexican or american and so it is enchantingly half of each the marketplaces are typically mexican anything from a straw hat to a magnificent hand-tooled saddle just the thing for a young gringo couple to take back to the states but look at the residential section some of the better homes true and yet if i hadn't told you of our whereabouts would you guess from these pictures that you are in a small mexican border town mexico city yes but would you guess a place like matamoros i think not here's another american touch the drive-in no it's not a restaurant or motel but a wonderful place to do some shopping especially if you're in the market for some fine watches the savings by the way range from 30 to 70 percent as against prices in the states speaking of restaurants this is the place via del refuyo once through the iron gates you enter a courtyard filled with tables and you tell yourself this luncheon will last for hours and believe me you'll do your best to stretch it out a poster announces a highly anticipated bullfight but look at the background those buildings make it seem as if you're in the center of town well those buildings are not real but a three-dimensional facade something i've never seen used in this manner all right so with a little luck and a lot of patience lunch lasts until supper and the sun goes down and the mariachis are on hand with a serenade you know a nice thing about mexico is that americans never feel they're away from home europeans and asiatics may find this hard to understand and if they fail it is because they cannot understand that america's ties to mexico canada central and south america are more than geographic ties they are extremely emotional deeply rooted in history and heritage and in the final analysis they are bonds that are indivisible and so play on mariachi play a song to remember until again we pass this way [Music] foreign [Music] come on [Laughter] [Music] huh [Music]