In Search of a Lost City

I heard a rumor of a city on our Texas coast that was completely wiped out by a hurricane in 1867, and that all that remained were the bricks in the sand. I stumbled on this long forgotten story while doing research for a TV show we were trying to develop several years ago, but I didn’t really think much of it— until my brother was in town visiting and showed me his new metal detector…

The lightbulb went off, let’s go treasure hunting!

Now I didn’t really think we would find treasure, however any metal hits would provide some direction to the original site of the lost city.

We set off, drove all the way to the beach, and headed as far south as we could. We reached the mouth of the Rio Grande, with Mexico a stones throw away. We followed the water’s edge up-river, staying south of the state park and wildlife management area. Soon we discovered salt flats covered in broken glass. Some looked new and some looked very old. We we looked up to the southern horizon, all we could see is a Mexican lighthouse, jutting through the coastal brush.

This lost city really wasn’t a city. It was more of a small port town, or settlement. It was called Clarksville. It had a few small buildings on stilts to protect them from the changing tides, and even had a government building and observatory. Clarksville was located right at the mouth of the Rio Grande river. Across the river was the port city of Puerto Bagdad. Puerto Bagdad became extremely profitable during the civil war when the south could not trade through ships, and would in turn contraband things in and out the country through the Mexican port. A lot of money was made and lost in the region. There are a few historical accounts of what life was like in Clarksville and Puerto Bagdad, but none of the locals knew that it would completely disappear into the sand and sea by the end of 1867.

We keep tracking through the salt flats, with the Queen Isabella Causeway in the distance.

I separate myself, and decide to continue taking pictures while going on a walk. The sound of the wind and the waves in the distance are always something to take in and enjoy.

After a while, I decide it’d be best to call it quits and head back in. We had planned to go back to a restaurant and look at our pictures and reminisce on our adventure, so I decided to turn around. I had just walked through a muddy salt flat and decided to go around several bushes where it was dry instead of tracking back through the mud. In the distance I see something sticking out of the ground. I slowly walk towards it, I see the wind blow sand across more triangular edges, sticking out of the sand.

As I get closer, I realize these might be the infamous bricks in the sand. Were the rumors true?

Now I’m not a stone/brick expert, so there was no way for me to judge how old these bricks were. If they weren’t part of the Clarksville settlement, then what were they doing here? 151 years of tides, hurricanes, and the unforgiving sun should have completely hidden away any of the remains. As far as I know nothing was ever built there again, so where did these come from? At the end of the day, it was a great time setting out on an adventure with the family, finding what we set out to look for, and an experience that could hopefully one day become part of a great story!

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