Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the San Jacinto monument. This monument is the tallest obelisk in the nation beating the Washington monument by 15 feet! Most people haven’t heard of the battle of San Jacinto however it is a pivotal part of Texas history. So of course it was on our list of historical places to see in Texas. It’s a beautiful monument nestled in a gorgeous park with an incredible view of the Battleship Texas. Unfortunately the elevators were closed so I told Joe “we can take the stairs”. He looked at me like I was crazy and then said “it’s 40 stories!” Obviously we didn’t go to the observation deck, however we did explore the rest of the monument and museum.
View of the reflection pool and monument
San Jacinto monument inscriptions
The outside walls of the monument’s base are inscribed with the story of the War of Texas’s Independence. As you can see from the pictures the walls of the monument are made from Texas Cordova shellstone. We walked around the base of the entire monument, just taking it all in reading and learning. If you want to learn about the San Jacinto monument head on over to www.sanjacinto-museum.org.
San Jacinto Monument Doors
The doors of the monument are decorated with the six flags of nations that have claimed sovereignty over Texas. Starting from the top there is the Republic of Texas, United States, France, the Confederate States, Spain and Mexico. If you were wondering where Six Flags got its name here’s your answer!
Our sweet girls having fun! By this point the boys were exhausted and waiting at the car.
Some of the Historical artifacts
The museum houses an impressive amount of historical Texas artifacts. I could have spent a remarkable amount of time reading about all of them. An artifact that stood out to me was a gun that was gifted to a man who could be my ancestor. That information had me ready to search through Ancestry.com to see if there is a connection!
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We greatly enjoyed visiting the San Jacinto monument and looking at all of the artifacts they had displayed. I love that the kids got some hands on learning regarding Texas history. The San Jacinto monument is a must see when studying Texas history but hopefully the elevators will be in working order when you go!
