Jennefer Bell's father-in-law supervised the transport of this Saturn V rocket to Johnson Space Center. It was just a few years ago that the rocket was placed in a hangar to protect it from the elements. 2000 Houston Chronicle file photo.Today I took my students on a field trip to Space Center Houston. It got me thinking about both about the field trips I took as a child and how the field trip to the space center has evolved.
When I was a child, a field trip to the Space Center meant driving right on to JSC property and exploring pretty much at your will.
I am sure that only certain buildings were open to the public but I know it felt like we were allowed to just wander. There were exhibits of things like spacesuits, and old photogrpahs, but not a lot of plaque copy to read. The mighty Saturn V lay out in the elements along side the Mercury Redstone and Little Joe. Little did I know back then that I would one day marry the son of the man who was responsible for shipping said rocket to Rocket Park. My father-in-law loved to tell stories about how they had to put it on a barge and bring it up to Nasa Road 1 via Clear Lake. My husband can remember vividly drinking a 7-11 Slurpee while watching the huge rocket make its way to its permanent home. But I digress...my point is that JSC trips were a lot different back then, but at least they were free.
1992 - Enter Space Center Houston. On October 19, 1992, Space Center Houston opened to the public. While it was the first time the public had to pay to view the artifacts, there were now live shows, full sized mock-ups and tons of plaque copy that explained things in layman's terms. To visit the buildings we once roamed at our lesiure, one had to take a guided tram tour. At least now if you had a question, you could ask the tour guide instead of flagging down some unsuspecting rocket scientist who just happened to be walking through. OK, since I am adding details from my personal life in this post, can I add that I met my husband on my first day of work at Space Center Houston in December of 1992? I guess like Tookie's, the Space Center has a lot to do with my personal history.
I can remember a few other field trips from my youth as well.
Armand Bayou Nature Center, the boat that left from the dock at Bay Area Park, Ashton Villa, San Jacinto Monument etc are all still around and open to tourists. (As far as I know) There are a couple of places I remember going to that don't seem to be in existence anymore. Can anyone remember a place called Hester's Nursery? How about some sort of candy factory in the La Porte area? Camp Manison with its in-ground trampolines? Comment below if you remember any of these places, or if you just want to share memories of when we once walked freely around JSC.
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Best Field Trips
Ah, this is a fun memory jogger. I remember Hester's Nursery very well. Sarah Hester was one of my grandmother's best friends and Sarah's son, Joe, was the father of my best friend through grade school. I spent many hours playing with my friend in and around the nursery. I still can't spray water from a garden hose in many patterns and with the control that "Aunt" Sarah could! The nursery was on Todville Road. I think the family gave the land for a park. It may have been heavily damaged in the hurricane as I have heard houses across the street along Todville were destroyed.
Field trips I remember as a Clear Creek grad, Class of 1970, were going with the Honor Society to Westgate Shopping Village and ice skating up in Houston. Also, Mrs. Goforth took a group of us from CCJr.Hi to the theater one night to see Medea. Earlier years had trips to the Battleship Texas and San Jacinto Monument, and in grade school going to a cotton gin and a paper mill both of which I recall as being quite smelly. Lots of others with Girl Scouts and church youth group, but that is too much to tell! Life was good, growing up on the bay.
Hester Nursery
Our family nursery from the early 1920's until 1992 is no longer available to linger in while you buy your plants, drink coffee with Doris, Joe or Sarah or get Janet to help you with your landscape design. However, Hester Garden Park, created from the Nursery property when the city of Seabrook acquired it in 1992 still offers the same tranquil experience.
There are paths through the "jungle," the pond shimmering in the sun, spreading live oaks shading the way, now to the library. Where plants were once propagated and sold, a butterfly garden invites you to stay a while.
Where you used to sit with Mrs. Hester at her Garden Shop, there's a modest parking area. Immediately adjacent is a park bench overlooking Hester Gully or, as the Hesters used to call it, "The Creek." It's a place to bring your lunch and spend the afternoon, as you were once invited to at the Nursery.
The fields where the Hesters grew their own "Trees and Shrubs for Coastal Growing" have grown up into a forest. The Hester hybrid crepe myrtles are still everywhere, still a sight to see whether in bloom or not.
If you take your way to the right heading across a small bridge you'll pass an enormous Pecan tree. The nut from which the Pecan tree grew was planted by Joe Hester, father of the Mr. Hester most now remember.
Fiddler crabs scurry along the creek, a snake can be glimpsed in the underbrush, children still play out back. And more urban pursuits, joggers, runners, folks on bicycles, also occur.
It's a place to be, to remember to unwind. Don't plan to be entertained. It's not that sort of place--never was. But do plan on bringing your binoculars to bird watch, if that's your choice. Hester Garden Park is on the Texas Coastal Birding Trail. And it's still at 3029 Todville Rd, Seabrook, TX.
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