The Jane Long Society is hard at work preparing for the Fourth Annual Jane Long Festival October 12, 2013, at Fort Travis Seashore Park. This is an incredibly picturesque site for a festival, with its sweeping views of the Galveston-Bolivar ferries, shore birds, Bolivar Lighthouse, the Gulf of Mexico, Galveston Bay, Galveston Island, fishing, shrimping and sailing boats and huge freighters streaming in and out of the Houston Ship Channel. 2013 marks the return of the delightful “Pirates and Petticoats” – a more musical version of the play by Bolivar’s own Linda Elissalde that details Jane’s stay on Bolivar Peninsula and her extraordinary contacts with both the famous pirate Jean Lafitte and the Karankawa Indians. A special invitation this year is going out to all those who attend, attended or worked at a Texas school named after Jane Long.
The extraordinary folks on Bolivar Peninsula have accomplished so much in their campaign to raise awareness of Jane Long, the Mother of Texas:
- Jane’s portrait is now hanging (for the first time ever!) in the State Capital in Austin,
- Highway 87 has been renamed the Jane Long Highway
- An historical pavilion has been created with two historical markers (for Jane and for Bolivar Peninsula) erected in front of Fort Travis Seaside Park (near the ferry landing).
Three flags draw visitors to the pavilion: the U. S. flag, the Texas flag and the Jane Long Red Petticoat flag. Don’t know about this flag? Legend has it that Jane Long scared off invading Karankawa Indians by using her red petticoat as a flag – along with a cannon and abandoned soldiers’ uniforms – when she was left all alone on Bolivar Peninsula.
Festival vendors and exhibitors are now being signed up. More volunteers are needed to help with this very special festival. Contact Charlotte Stirling for more information at [email protected].
The Jane Long Society is a committee of the Bolivar Peninsula Cultural Foundation.
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