Stacking rocks has become a new pastime along the Galveston Seawall. It began anonymously this summer and has increased to the point that the piles are now a new tourist attraction. You can, of course, add your own creation.
One lady complained in a letter to the local paper that vandals were knocking down these “beautiful, peaceful, intriguing” piles of stones. More likely, the precariously positioned rocks were victims of the constant wind.
Piling rocks as navigation markers, grave markers, and altars has been a human endeavor for centuries. The Old Testament mentions stacking rocks. Some cultures stack the stones as wishes or prayers. There is something spiritual about the standing rocks, but city officials say the phenomenon was probably started by some inventive beachcomber who found a use for the piles of riprap that separate the beach and the seawall. It has become a beach activity to take in the gallery of stones.
It is probably just a coincidence that the creative piles of stones are near 49th Street and Seawall Boulevard where the memorial to the victims of the 1900 Hurricane is located. The storm struck the island city on Sept. 8, 1900, and remains the worst natural disaster in U.S. history with an estimated 6,000 having perished.
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This article appears in September 23 • 2011.
