Rabb Plantation - Visitors Center of Sabal Palm Sanctuary
by Debra Martz
Title
Rabb Plantation - Visitors Center of Sabal Palm Sanctuary
Artist
Debra Martz
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Rabb Plantation - Visitors Center of Sabal Palm Sanctuary by Debra Martz
As I neared closer and closer to the border of Texas and Mexico an extremely tall border wall came into view. And then finally an open gate being patrolled by a border agent on one side and a large sign on the other stating something like, "Through the gate, over the levee, NO passport required!" Was I headed into Mexico? I thought this sanctuary was in Texas! And come to find out, it is in Texas, right on the Rio Grande which separates Texas and Mexico. I learned, also, that it was closed for several years by border politics. Today an agreement keeps the U.S. border wall open during the day giving access to this oasis on U.S. property just SE of Brownsville.
My next surprise was when this mansion came into my view and then found out it was the Visitors Center!! Sabal Palm Sanctuary occupies 557 acres of the former Rabb Plantation, a 19th-century sugarcane plantation on the bank of the Rio Grande, which at that time, a river deep enough to float light steamboats.
The sanctuary is named for the Sabal Palms that lined the Rio Grande, once growing prolifically along the Rio Grande corridor. There was a great decline in the palm forest, first by early settlers who needed lumber and later by those clearing land for agriculture. This sancturary protects the last forest of the sabal palms with beautiful trails winding through and around them.
And to think I was only here to go bird watching!!
...........................
©Debra Martz, All Rights Reserved
In My Gallery/Collection:
"Architecture"
Uploaded
February 24th, 2016
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Viewed 2,072 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/15/2024 at 7:08 AM
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