Live on Martha’s Vineyard long enough and you might pick up some strong opinions about the Island. For every other island out there, we imagine there are plenty of locals with equally strong opinions about their home. So, we decided to call them up and ask them.
THE ISLAND: Galveston Island, Texas
THE ISLANDER: David Landriault
THE STORY IN BRIEF: Measuring about twenty-seven miles long and no more than three miles at its widest point, this barrier island off the coast of Texas is famous for being rocked: on June 19, 1865, by the news that enslaved people had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, two-and-a-half years after it was issued; and for hurricanes, notably the Great Storm of 1900. Landriault, cofounder of a Galveston-focused marketing company, said the island is a site of resilience.
BOI VS. IBC: On Galveston Island, people will ask “Are you BOI or IBC?” There’s a big difference between the designations of Born On Island or Islander By Choice. Landriault was born on the island, but the qualifications for BOI are so strict, he still calls himself an Islander By Choice. “I’m not considered BOI because BOI actually means your family goes back generations in Galveston,” Landriault said.
STORM WATCH: Whatever your title, locals help each other out. If a storm is coming, neighbors help board up windows and find safe places for pets. If someone suggests moving somewhere safer, he has a response: “If there was someplace else like Galveston, I probably would. But I think people who say that probably have never seen a Galveston sunrise.”
THE OCEAN GIVETH AND TAKETH AWAY: When it’s not sweeping homes out to sea, the water is providing islanders with seafood. “Redfish is really big, crawfish, blue crabs,” he said. Galveston has been called the Ellis Island of the South, as it was a major port of entry for immigrants in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The diverse groups that have settled there (Vietnamese, Mexican, Creole, Greek, and others) make great use of the seafood in local restaurants.
LOCAL MASCOT: If the sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico is the draw in the morning, the brown pelicans are the draw in the evening. Landriault recommended sitting on a pier to watch the birds, which have a seven-foot wingspan, swoop in the fading light: “You couldn’t imagine it until you see how graceful these pelicans are.”
