The Mango Vol 1 Issue 6

Port A a slice of paradise on the Texas coast

Text by Cindy Muir

Mustang Island, a barrier island off the Texas Gulf Coast, was known to be inhabited by Karankawa Indians centuries ago, and a couple of Spanish explorers sailed into the area, including Cabeza de Vaca. In the mid-1800s, there was a small fort built for protection that was used during the Civil War, and steamship service operated in the 1850s from the Port Aransas area to New Orleans more than 500 miles away. The

town’s name changed several times until the last and permanent change was made shortly after 1900. One of the temporary names of Port Aransas was “Tarpon” because of the large population of tarpon in nearby waters at the time. The Tarpon Inn was founded in the 1880s and still stands as a popular hotel in the center of “Old Town.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited several times to fish for tarpon, and the small

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