1962 Map of South of Star Lake

About this map

The Gulf of Mexico dominates this coastal landscape along the southeastern edge of Jefferson County, where the Texas shoreline meets the sea. A thin sliver of land in the upper corner provides a window into the industrial and transit character of the region during the early 1960s, featuring a lonely Oil Well and the path of Highway 87 hugging the coast. The map illustrates the precarious relationship between the land and the tides, with a low-lying marshy interface and expansive offshore soundings that reflect the shallow, sandy nature of this stretch of the Texas Gulf Coast. This edition, which includes 1974 photorevisions, documents the physical geography and man-made infrastructure at the edge of the state just before years of coastal erosion and environmental shifts would alter the shoreline.