Although regional definitions vary from source to source, Southeast Texas is considered a sub-region of East Texas.   It is of course, the southeast corner to the U.S. state of Texas.  The sub-region is geographically centered around the Houston—Sugar Land—Baytown and Beaumont—Port Arthur metropolitan areas.  Some of Southeast Texas overlaps with Central Texas, and the region borders Acadiana and the Sabine River.  Our culture is considered much the same as Northeast Texas, but has more of a Cajun influence (who’d a thought?!).  Outside of Houston, many of the larger cities still follow a rural Southern way of life, especially in dialect (are they saying we have an accent?), mannerisms (and that we talk with our hands!?), religion, and cuisine.  Although there are several rivers and streams crisscrossing the area, there are only two natural large bodies of water in Southeast Texas, Galveston Bay and Lake Sabine.  But there are large reservoirs just north of us in East Texas. Southeast Texas has its own divisions:  The Golden Triangle, The Big Thicket and Galveston Bay. 

The Golden Triangle is extreme Southeast Texas.  The “triangle” is made up of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, which are the largest cities in the area.  The “golden” refers to the wealth of the Spindletop oil strike in 1901.  The petrochemical industry is still an important factor in the local economy.  Some residents of the area place the boundary at the Trinity river.  Although Wikipedia places it just past the Houston metropolitan area.

The Big Thicket is an area of dense forest located in the area just north and northwest of Beaumont.  It is comprised of many small towns, including Woodville and Kountze.  The Big Thicket National Preserve protects part of the old thicket, highlighting the area’s biological resources.  Its 97,000 acres boasts a varied ecology of southwestern desert, piney woods, swamps and coastal prairies.  Diverse plant species include orchids, cacti, cypress and pine all in close proximity to one another.

Galveston Bay is a large estuary located along Texas’s upper coast.  The Trinity River and the San Jacinto River feed into the bay, as well as numerous bayous and incoming tides from the Gulf of Mexico.  It covers about 600 square miles, is 30 miles long and 17 miles wide.  The bay has three inlets at the Gulf of Mexico:  Bolivar Roads (the  exit of the Houston ship channel) between Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula, San Luis Pass to the West, and Rollover Pass to the East.

Houston is the largest city on the bay, while smaller ones include Galveston, Pasadena, Baytown and Texas City.  The bay provides nursery and spawning grounds for large a bounty of marine life, and is important for both commercial and recreational fishing.