Yachts For Sale In Freeport

The City of Freeport has been designated an official Texas Main Street City. This Program is part of the Texas Historical Commission’s Community Heritage Development Division to help revitalize and preserve the city’s historic downtown and commercial districts. Historic downtown Freeport is located between the banks of the Old Brazos River and shores of the Gulf of Mexico. 

United Yacht Sales can help you find the perfect yacht for sale in Texas. Give us a call today at 1-772-463-3131 about purchasing a new boat or listing your current yacht on the brokerage market.

Freeport is one of the five cities (Clute, Freeport, Lake Jackson, Quintana, Surfside Beach, and Bryan Beach—managed by Freeport) that comprise the Brazosport area in Brazoria County of Texas, a region of natural beauty, history, and miles of sandy beaches only 50 miles south of Downtown Houston. Texas Hwy 288 (Nolan Ryan Expressway) runs north directly into the center of Houston from Port Freeport.

As a coastal port city on the Gulf of Mexico, Freeport offers some of the best fishing in Texas. Offshore game can include red snapper, tuna, wahoo, tarpon, and marlin, while redfish, speckled trout, and flounder can be fished from the bay and jetties. Freeport features two marinas, many boat ramps, numerous bait & tackle shops, and is the departure point for charters to Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary, a premier diving destination about 100 miles off the coast. This colorful marine sanctuary is the northernmost coral reef of the continental United States in the northwest Gulf of Mexico waters. The 160 sq mile area consists of 17 different reefs and banks of beautiful, colorful corals and marine life.

The Brazos River that forms the western border of Freeport is the longest river in Texas, at 1,280 miles. The river’s origins are in eastern New Mexico and western Texas near Lubbock with three main upper forks—Double Mountain, Salt, and Clear forks. Brazos River flows southeast to Waco, crosses the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain to the Gulf of Mexico in Freeport, and connects to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Brazos is navigable for most of its length and is used for hydroelectric power, flood control, and irrigation for cotton grown in the Brazos River Valley.

Bryan Beach is 3 miles of sandy beach on the Gulf that is maintained by the City of Freeport. Bryan Beach features shore/surf fishing, swimming, sunbathing, primitive tent camping, beachcombing for shells, picnicking, and more. Bryan Beach remains in its natural uncommercialized state; the water is clean and clear. The beach is drivable (follow regulations) and a great place for watersports like jet skiing and windsurfing. Beachgoers can have a cookout with campfire but must be respectful of the natural environment.

The Freeport Wetlands Trail & Bird Observatory located in the Brazosport region off Texas Hwy 288 is a 50-acre freshwater marsh with a lake that is the wintering grounds of hundreds of ducks and geese. The trail is a one-mile loop with excellent year-round viewing of commonly seen birds like Little Blue Heron, White Ibis, American Coot, and Blue-winged Teal.

The Justin Hurst Wildlife Management Area is just west of Freeport in the Jones Creek area. This Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes Ecoregion is about 15,000 sq miles in area off North Hwy 36. Hunting, fishing, hiking, bicycling, and wildlife observation are the recreational activities featured in this flat, low-lying land that had been deeded to Stephen P. Austin in 1830 and was once the site of his sister Emily and her husband, James F. Perry’s cotton and sugar cane plantation. In the early 20th century, the land was used for cattle grazing. After several ownership changes, a large tract was acquired by the Nature Conservancy with funds from the waterfowl stamp. More information is available from the Texas Parks & Wildlife website.

Freeport’s history dates to 1528 when Spanish explorer, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca landed in the area with a few others on a makeshift raft and named the river “Los Brazos de Dios” (The Arms of GOD). The Spanish explorer spent 8 years in the Gulf region of present-day Texas. One of only 4 survivors of Spain’s Narvaez expedition in 1527 that ended up on the west coast of Florida. The Gulf area of Texas was dominated by Karakawa Indians who enslaved the four until they were able to make their way to Spanish settlements in Mexico. Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca kept excellent journals detailing people, places, wildlife, and plants, that were of significant historical value. In 1821, Stephen F. Austin and 38 men landed at mouth of Brazos River on the schooner, Lively. Austin and a group of about 300 colonists settled the area and founded Velasco in 1831 that became the site of the Battle of Velasco in the following year. A Mexican customs port, Velasco was named for a Mexican general as was Quintana across the river. In 1836, following the Battle of San Jacinto led by Sam Houston who defeated the Mexican government, Velasco was made the first capitol of the new, independent Republic of Texas.

Much later in 1912, after Texas had become the 28th State of the Union, Freeport, a settlement of Euro-Americans, was founded by the Freeport Sulphur Group. Freeport was home to the largest sulfur mine in the world at that time. In 1929, the Brazos River was diverted south of town, with the Old Brazos riverbed remaining as a protected harbor in the center of town and leading out to the Gulf of Mexico. Freeport continued to expand in commerce and population in the early 20th century, but the town’s most significant economic development began in 1939 with the construction of the Dow Chemical Company facilities. Alfred P. (Dutch) Beutel, Dow Chemical’s second in command and first head of Dow’s Texas division, selected Freeport for the company’s Texas Gulf Coast operations. He helped develop Dow’s Freeport facilities into the largest chemical manufacturing site in the world, in just 21 years! Dow initially bought 800 acres that bordered on Freeport Harbor, made attractive by seawater rich in magnesium and bromine, oyster shells rich in lime needed for extracting magnesium, salt domes, proximity to natural gas resources, and an ocean port.

Magnesium was in high demand, needed for WWII aircraft production, and Dow had developed a way to mine magnesium from seawater, making the Texas Gulf Coast an ideal location for its proximity to other necessary ingredients/resources and port on Gulf. After the war, DOWMETAL, Dow’s proprietary magnesium, was used in other industrial applications. Dow Chemical became the community’s largest employer and Freeport became the site of Dow’s single largest manufacturing facility of the 21st century. The two towns on opposite sides of the Brazos River, Velasco and Freeport, joined to become the City of Freeport in 1957. Freeport is part of the historic Texas Independence Trail, a non-profit organization promoting heritage tourism, economic development, and historic preservation.

The downtown Freeport Historical Museum, established in 2009, exhibits 300 years of local Freeport history. Displays of artifacts and models detail life in Freeport area from Spanish (Mexican) Texas to becoming an American town in 1912, and the former shrimping capital of the world. Freeport had one of the world’s largest shrimp fishing fleets, but weather, water quality, and economic conditions (such as fuel costs, farmed imports, and government regulations) have decimated the Bay and Gulf shrimping industry to a fraction of what it was in the heyday decades after WWII. The picturesque 60 ft shrimp trawler, Mystery, commemorates the former vast fleet that gave rise to the Brazosport area designation of “Shrimp Capital of the World.”

Mystery is on display at the Freeport Municipal Park on the banks of the Old Brazos River in downtown Freeport. Freeport Riverplace is also located at the Freeport Municipal Park Complex. The convention center’s floor to ceiling glass windows allow spectacular views of the Old Brazos River. Freeport Riverplace is a great venue for weddings and other events with seating for 200-350 people. This facility can be reserved from the Freeport Parks Dept. Nearby Captain Mark’s Seafood Market is the place for fresh shrimp, crab, oysters, local Gulf fish, and more. On the River Restaurant is a locally owned seafood restaurant since 1988 that Texas Monthly Magazine rated as one of the “Top 40 Small Town Cafes in Texas.” It is also a local favorite.

Mitchell’s Pier is a fishing pier on Old Brazos River in the central downtown area, just minutes from Freeport Municipal Park with free access to the public boat ramp, piers, and parks. Mitchell’s features a bait & tackle shop, plus snacks and drinks. Customers buying bait are allowed to fish from the embankment as well as the pier.

Freeport Marina, a Certified Clean Marina, is just minutes from the Gulf for offshore fishing and sailing, and inshore angling spots. The marina is protected by a guillotine storm gate and 21-ft Federal levee system for unsurpassed storm protection on the Texas Gulf Coast. Freeport is the only city in the Brazosport area with a protected harbor. Freeport Marina features 200 wet slips on 10-ft wide floating docks with 4.5-ft finger piers. Slips range in length from 35, 40, 50, and 60-ft, with a depth range of 6 to 21 ft to accommodate a wide variety of vessels. Slips include dock box, water, 30 or 50amp electric, free WiFi, and large fairways in and out of each slip. Annual, 6-month, and monthly leases are available. Contact marina office for further info or to reserve. Amenities include restrooms/showers, pump-out station, oil disposal, fish line recycling, bait shop, 24-hr video security, fish cleaning stations accessible by boat and more. Nearby is the Freeport Municipal Golf Course, Freeport Wetlands Trail & Bird Observatory, Mitchell’s Pier, restaurants, grocery store, and more.

The Bridge Harbor Yacht Club & Marina is a public marina with resort style yacht club facilities on the protected waters of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway mouth of Freeport Harbor. Only 12 miles to blue water, the marina is convenient to Galveston, Tiki Island and Kemah on Texas Gulf Coast. The marina features 314 slips on fixed and floating docks, including over 250 covered slips. MLW Dock Depth is 8 ft, approach depth is 10 ft and maximum vessel length is 100 ft. Dockage features water, pump-out service, restrooms/showers, laundry facility, ice, 24-hr fuel dock with gas and diesel, 30, 50, and 100amp electric, and security. Some of the amenities are swimming pool with swim-up pool bar, tennis, Captains Table Seafood Grill restaurant & bar, banquet hall, maintenance facility, engine & prop service, 70-ton travel lift, repair crane, charter fishing & diving boats, and convenience store. Hotels and beach are nearby. For slip lease info, contact Harbor Master. Transient slips can be booked online via Snag-A-Slip.

Port Freeport is one of the largest and fastest growing deep-water ports in Texas. Improvement projects include deepening the channel to 60 ft, constructing new berths, and an on-dock refrigerated warehouse. Freeport’s central location on the Texas coast and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, rail, and highway transportation modes, contribute to the city’s status as a major Texas port.