Armand Bayou Nature Center

Martyn Farm

The next stop on the ABNC tour is the Martyn Farm. The James Martyn family purchased 83 acres in 1879 on what is now ABNC. The Martyns became prosperous from their hard work farming and ranching. The Martyn family raised sugar cane, watermelons, corn, pears, hogs, cattle and chickens. In the late 1800's James Martyn purchased a 25 foot sloop, Boomerang, to transport his fruit, vegetables and animals down Middle Bayou (now Armand Bayou) to Galveston to sale.

James Martyn's son, Jimmy, lived on the Martyn Farm until he died in 1964.

With a little imagination, one can picture James and Jimmy working around the Martyn Farm at ABNC. This farm is representative of a Texas farm in the late 1800's, complete with antique farm equipment, farmhouse (the Hanson House), a wood shop, barn, windmill and a garden.

The Hanson House was built around 1895 on Galveston Bay by Clarence Roberts and his mother, Susan Lamb Roberts. The great hurricane of 1900 blew the house off its foundation. The Hanson House was then moved near the area of what is now Highway 146 and FM 518 by logs and mules. Susan Lamb Roberts' great-grand son, Everett Andrew Hanson, Jr., and his wife Ruth Yeager Hanson donated the Hanson House to ABNC in 1982. The Hanson House was moved to ABNC by truck and barge.