Photographer: Kevin Stillman

Site where Texas won independence from Mexico on April 21, 1836, at the Battle of San Jacinto. After retreats and disasters halfway across Texas, Sam Houston's small army turned on Mexican Gen. Santa Anna's superior forces and defeated them in just minutes. Commemorating the decisive battle, San Jacinto Monument rises 570 feet above flat coastal plain. Famous monument is constructed of reinforced concrete faced with Texas fossilized buff limestone. At base of shaft is San Jacinto Museum of Texas History; exhibits trace region's history from Indian civilization encountered by Cortez, to Texas as a state. "Texas Forever!! The Battle of San Jacinto" is a 35-minute history lesson reliving Texas history from the days of Spanish rule in Mexico to the expansion of the American West in 1848. The multi-image presentation utilizes 42 projectors. Show fee. Museum open daily 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; elevator and observation deck open daily 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Elevator fee. Closed Dec. 24 & 25.

Another landmark of the park is Battleship Texas, moored in permanent slip at battleground. One of few monuments of its kind in the world, it is only survivor of the pre-World War I dreadnoughts. Battleship was presented to State of Texas by U.S. Navy. Commissioned shortly before World War I, the venerable warship served in that conflict and in World War II as flagship in 1944 D-Day invasion commanded by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, a native of Denison, TX. Open daily 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. East of downtown Houston 22 miles via Texas 225, Texas 134. Admission.