Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum

The Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum, located in Galveston, Texas, is a museum dedicated to the offshore oil and gas industry. Located next to the Strand National Historic Landmark District, the museum is housed on a retired jack-up rig set up in the Galveston harbor.

Our one-of-a-kind facility gives visitors the unique opportunity to learn all about the oil and gas industry while being aboard a retired jack-up drilling rig. The museum is designed to be a self-guided facility so that visitors can experience the exhibits at their own pace.

Texas Seaport Museum & Tall Ship Elissa

Galveston’s historic immigration story comes alive with a new experience at Galveston Historical Foundation’s Galveston Historic Seaport. Ship To Shore allows visitors to follow in the footsteps of the early immigrants, from the long sea voyage with its mix of hardships and wonders to the hustle and bustle arriving in the 1880s at Galveston, one of the busiest ports and booming cities in the United States.

Galveston Historical Foundation brought ELISSA, an 1877 square-rigged iron barque, from a scrapyard in Piraeus Harbor, Greece to Galveston to begin restoration work in 1978. By 1982, GHF staff and volunteers completed restoration and transformed this rare, historic vessel into a floating museum that would actively sail. Today, the 1877 Tall Ship ELISSA is one of only three ships of her kind in the world to still actively sail and welcomes over 40,000 visitors annually. She also serves as the Official Tall Ship of Texas, a National Historic Landmark, and a symbol of the Gulf Coast’s historic beginnings as a seaport and active waterfront. The 1877 ELISSA welcomes visitors at the Galveston Historic Seaport. Experience Galveston’s maritime history daily.

Historic Harbor Tour & Dolphin Watch

See Galveston Harbor up close aboard Seagull II on the Historic Harbor Tour and Dolphin Watch, Galveston Historic Seaport’s 50-foot twin-engine motor vessel. Fast, stable, and sheltered, she was built specifically for harbor sight-seeing excursions and education and is a perfect platform for waterborne experiential learning. The boat is U.S. Coast Guard certified and her operators are fully licensed and knowledgeable about the history and lore of her home waters. Seagull II offers soft drinks and bottled water for sale and has a comfortable main deck, sheltered from sun and rain. An open upper deck affords a full panorama of water and sky.