Visitors can delve deep into Galveston’s nautical history at the Texas Seaport Museum. The centerpiece of the museum is the ELISSA, a three-masted, iron-hulled merchant barque built in 1877 in Aberdeen, Scotland. Inside the museum, you can learn the history of ELISSA as well as how the tall ship was rediscovered and restored. Outside, you can tour the vessel; on the tour you’ll try tying basic sailing knots, check out some of ELISSA’s log books, and even see the officers’ quarters, which are amazingly small.

Back inside the Texas Seaport Museum, guests can also learn more about the area’s shrimping industry and search the immigration database, which contains information on more than 133,000 immigrants who entered the United States via Galveston.