Attractions

This is the site where Texas won independence from Mexico on April 21, 1836, at the Battle of San Jacinto. After retreats and disasters halfway across Texas, Sam Houston's small army turned on Mexican Gen. Santa Anna's superior forces and defeated them in just minutes. Commemorating the decisive battle, the San Jacinto Monument rises 570 feet above the flat coastal plain. The famous monument is constructed of reinforced concrete faced with Texas fossilized buff limestone. At the base of the shaft is the San Jacinto Museum of Texas History. Exhibits trace the region's history from Native American civilizations encountered by Cortez to Texas as a state. "Texas Forever! The Battle of San Jacinto" is a 35-minute history lesson reliving Texas history from the days of Spanish rule in Mexico to the expansion of the American West in 1848. The multi-image presentation uses 42 projectors. Show fee. Museum is open 9 a.m.–6 p.m. daily; elevator and observation deck is open 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m. daily. Elevator fee. Closed Dec. 24–25.

Another landmark of the park is Battleship Texas, moored in a permanent slip at the battleground. One of few monuments of its kind in the world, it is the only survivor of the pre-World War I dreadnoughts. The battleship was presented to the State of Texas by the U.S. Navy. Commissioned shortly before World War I, the venerable warship served in that conflict and in World War II as a flagship in the 1944 D-Day invasion. Open 9 a.m.–5 p.m. daily; closed Thanksgiving Day and Dec. 24–25. Admission charge. East of Houston 22 miles via Texas 225, Texas 134. 281/479-2431. www.tpwd.state.tx.us.