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■ To see more photos from Rockport, Texas, visit settlement, offshore oil and gas exploration, and the area’s rich heritage of commercial and sport fishing.

While strolling along the marina, visitors might also want to visit the Rockport Center for the Arts, which has exhibits by local artists; the Bay Education Center, where programs explore the ecology of the gulf; and the small Rockport Aquarium, featuring a variety of local sea life.

Visitors will also want to stroll the Rockport Heritage and Arts District, the downtown neighborhood filled with restaurants and shops such as Lori’s BookNook, where I picked up a cheap used paperback for some beach reading.

I got diverted from the beach, however, by Winery on the Bay, another downtown stop and a friendly, comfortable spot for a tasting flight or a glass. Or two. Or …

When I finally made it to the beach, I found a mile of sand in a wellmaintained city park lined with thatched cabanas and plenty of parking, pavilions and changing rooms. For those who’d rather avoid the waves, the park has a large saltwater pool.

The town offers plenty of seafood, some of it caught fresh by boats that sail from Rockport and neighboring Fulton harbors and bring in shrimp or oysters as the season dictates.

Another can’t-miss stop is the Fulton Mansion. George W. Fulton, an engineer and cattle baron, built the beautiful and beautifully restored Second Empire-style house in the 1870s, using the most up-to-date technology of the day, some of which he designed. Fulton also has an Ohio connection: He helped build the Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati, the precursor to the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

And one of my favorite finds, well worth a short drive north of town, was “the Big Tree” at Goose Island State Park. The Big Tree is just that: a massive live oak more than 35 feet in circumference and estimated to be more than 1,000 years old.

With any luck, visitors to the park will spy one of the rare and endangered whooping cranes that spend each winter in the area.

And after a trip to the Texas Gulf Coast, you just might find yourself joining the cranes as a frequent visitor.

The Fulton Mansion and History Center in Rockport was designed in the 1870s by George W. Fulton, who also helped build the Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati.

Rockport’s huge “Big Blue Crab” sculpture has been a landmark since the 1960s.

Many shops in Rockport sport colorful murals.