In looking at a map of Texas, wondering about a possible trip there, I was seeing the vast counties there with very low population. Most, of course, were in the arid zones, so, barren, not much reason to live there. But one Gulf Coast county stood out: Kenedy county, with substansial coastline. It has about 400 folks living there. This seems unique, for coastal areas.
Here’s some history, and, OK, a county divided up into large ranches. It just seems singular in the fact that it has a huge coastline, with no towns there. Has anyone been to Kenedy County? What’s it like?
Posted here vs IMHO because it might be an interesting ??? for Cecil, as it’s a pretty unique land situation, with some digging into the history.
Anyone who’s ever driven from Kingsville down to Harlingen immediately understands why almost no one lives there. It may be right on the coast, but it’s not much to look at. This is one of the places that the phrase “Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles” was coined to describe.
Here’s a link to the google maps page. IIRC, this land supports about one head of cattle per 2 or 3 acres. I don’t know a lot about the area, I just know it’s the most boring part of driving to South Padre Island.
Isn’t that where Dick Cheney shot his friend in the face?
I also note that the county’s entire coastline consists of Padre Island National Seashore. I suppose that would quell development. While the intracoastal waterway passes thru it, there are no suitable ports along its shore, nor does it have direct access to the ocean from any point.
Nor can one access the Padre Island Seashore via road in the county.
Qad, yep, that is the county that Cheney hunted on. I didn’t feature that, because it doesn’t have much to do with why the county developed in such an isolated manner. I’m really curious about how such a large piece of coastal land can be such an anomaly in the US.
Kenedy County is exactly between the mouths of the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. The land behind the coastal marsh quickly turns to mesquite scrub. The Spanish Conquest skipped over this area, establishing missions along the San Antonio River, and the area between the Nueces and the Rio Grande was in dispute and neither Texas nor Mexico until the Mexican-American War, only 160 years ago. To sum it up, there was no reason to build cities there and no one who would do it.
Starting after the time of Texas independence, some ranchers began to establish cattle operations (Crikey, what’s the name of the other ranch besides the King Ranch!?) According to the Handbook of Texas, Kenedy County itself may have been created to keep the ranchers in power and not the farmers of the Rio Grande Valley. In any case, the land was cattle county for miles around and, once again, no one wanted a city.
Today, people might want to build beachouses in Kenedy County, but there isn’t any beach there. As was said upthread, the beach is at Padre Island National Seashore, and Padre Island runs the entire length of the county. Laguna Madre, the water behind the island, turns to coastal marsh at the shore. There is a cut through San Padre Island just south of Kenedy County, but any waterfront property would be in an isolated marsh with no beach, hours from a large town and hundreds of miles from the major cities and at least a few miles from the nearest ocean access.
The Laureles and Norias divisions of the King Ranch are bordered by a total of about half of the county’s “coastline”, and all of the county’s waterfront is gross. Nothing beachy about it. It’s brackish and cow-tainted. The land holds few attractions and the ranch owners have provided ample reason to drive around rather than passing through.
