Above the Water, Against the Sky

Nobody knows who built the first structure out over the water on the Texas Gulf Coast, or what it looked like, or when it was built, but it was probably constructed by an angler chasing redfish or speckled trout or flounder, who didn’t want to leave the murky flats at night and go home. Or maybe it was a shrimper on a hot streak, plying his trade behind the barrier islands that guard the coast.

No matter. First there was one, and then there were nearly a thousand—shacks, shanties, cottages, and cabins dotting the 379 miles from the Louisiana line all the way to South Padre Island and the Mexican border, their stilted supports skinny and bare like the legs of a wading water bird. Little controlled, few with official sanction, many populated by squatters, these shelters accreted into a loose-knit community unto itself, but one that neither paid taxes nor adhered to any environmental or construction codes.

In 1973, the state of Texas unanimously passed a comprehensive coastal management