Galveston, Summer 1848
I'm sharing a scene from Book Two 1848-1891 of my biographical/historical novel A Woman of Marked Character-The Imagined Portrait of Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix 1812-1891.
Although Book Two is the second and final book in the series, it can be read as a standalone for the Texas portion of Sarah's life—as can, say, each book in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series. Of course, you'll miss out on the amazing story of Sarah's youth and young womanhood, and the dreadful and tragic events that shaped her into the strong, determined woman we see during her Galveston years and later on her Smith's Point cattle ranch. You can always go back to read Book One as a prequal.
Setup for the scene
Galveston, Texas. It is the summer of 1848. Sarah, now 36, has recently arrived by steamboat from Arkansas with her husband George Paschal and three young children. Her marriage is on the rocks, but she's determined to make her home in the bustling port city, the largest in the young state that joined the Union only three years earlier. She's just visited in the lovely home of the founder of Galveston, Col. Michel Menard, and he's agreed to help her with her plan to secure her financial future through his banking contacts. Menard, who it is said was a former white chieftain of the Shawnee, and Sarah, a Cherokee, share good-byes in each language.
Sarah is an experienced horsewoman—who, shockingly for the antebellum era—is dressed in a divided skirt and is NOT riding sidesaddle! Leaving Col. Menard's house, she mounts her chestnut quarter horse mare that she's rented from a town livery. She's happy, secure from the results of their meeting.
Galveston now
Col. Menard's home, built by the same builder Sarah will later use, still remains at Avenue N 1/2 and 33rd St, and is available for events through the Galveston Historical Foundation. I show this house in several chapters, including the famed 1856 "Mardi Gras Masque Bal." The house Sarah will have built is no longer standing on the double lots that she'll purchase at the northwest corner of Avenue H and 14th St (Christopher Columbus Blvd) near the Bishop's Palace. Sarah rides across the empty saltgrass prairie toward the Gulf shore. In the area of the Galvez Hotel, she'll reach the barrier sand dunes. There is, of course, no seawall as we return to 1848:
Chapter 3, A Secure Woman, page 34
Heading back to town, each word of her earlier conversation replaying in her mind, Sarah noticed a wagon path that veered toward the shore. Guiding the mare along it, she gained the top of the dunes. As far as her eyes could see, vacant golden sand met turquoise water beneath a silver sky. She had heard that the sand was as hard as a floor and that one could ride thirty miles along it. She let Chessie pick her path to the waterline.
The two stood as an equestrian statue, looking out to sea. She smiled, then took a long drink from the canteen.
Unhooking the carpetbag from the horn, she shifted to tie it and the canteen behind her with the leather saddle strings. She removed her hat and tied it with the bag. Pulling a few pins from her hair, her braid fell down her back. She rubbed Chessie's neck, golden in the sunlight; they shook their heads, their manes free.
Bending low in the saddle, the horn pressing her belly, she anchored her boots in the stirrups and squeezed her legs to become one with the mare. Turning along the coastline, Sarah loosened the reins and touched the quarter horse's shoulder. Chessie burst into a gallop, taking her rider fast and far.
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Menard House:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_B._Menard_House
https://www.galvestonhistory.org/sites/special-event-venues
Menard House
photo credit Galveston Historical Foundation