Fort Travis, Military fort in Port Bolivar, United States

Fort Travis is a historic coastal fort in Port Bolivar, Galveston County, Texas, with concrete bunkers, gun batteries, and a seawall facing the Gulf of Mexico. The site sits right on the water and shows how a military defense installation was laid out along the American Gulf Coast in the early 1900s.

Construction of Fort Travis began on April 8, 1898, and was completed in October 1899; the federal government purchased 97 acres and named the post for William B. Travis. Batteries Ernst and Davis were finished in 1898, and after the 1900 Galveston hurricane a 17-foot seawall was built for storm protection. Battery Kimble followed in 1925 and Battery No. 236 in 1943. The installation was declared surplus in 1949 and sold; Galveston County bought the site in 1973 for a public park.

The fort is named after William Barret Travis, a Texas military leader who died at the Alamo in 1836. Visitors can walk through the concrete bunkers and gun batteries that remain on the site, getting a close look at how a coastal defense position was organized.

The site is open for walking and has picnic areas with cooking facilities on the grounds. From the seawall, you can watch ships moving through Bolivar Roads toward Houston, which makes for a good reason to linger.

During World War II, around 2,500 soldiers were stationed here, making the installation one of the most populated spots in the area at that time. Today the site operates as a county park, and visitors can walk freely through the same bunkers where those troops lived and worked.