Elissa (Texas Seaport Museum)

Address Pier 21, Galveston, TX

The Elissa is a 179-foot iron barque built in Aberdeen in 1877 and the official tall ship of Texas. She sits at Pier 21 in the Strand district, open as the centrepiece of the Texas Seaport Museum, and she still sails — a handful of times a year the volunteer crew takes her out into Galveston Bay. The hull and rig are authentic; the restoration is meticulous.

The Seaport Museum surrounding her covers Galveston's maritime history, the 1900 hurricane (through good documentary exhibits), and the story of the Galveston immigration port — the database of immigrants who entered through Galveston is searchable on-site. The combination of the ship tour and the museum takes two to three hours. The harbour location is atmospheric in its own right, with working commercial vessels berthed nearby and the downtown visible along the waterfront.

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A story
Elissa was built in Aberdeen in 1877 and spent decades in the grain and general cargo trade, including multiple calls at Galveston in the 1880s. She was eventually abandoned and sunk as a storage hulk in Greece before being rediscovered in 1975. The restoration took years of volunteer labour and nearly $4 million; she was relaunched in 1982 and is now one of the oldest sailing ships still afloat in the world.

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