Near Home Site of John Peter Sjolander

Sjolander was born in Hudiksvall, Sweden, in 1851; his father had been dismissed from the navy for nonconformity to the state church, and his children were barred from the state schools. At Burns's grave the young Sjolander met Charles Peterson of Peterson's Magazine, who offered him work in America. Imprisoned in Germany during the Franco-Prussian War, he made his way to Galveston. He built boats and sailed the bay until 1876, worked briefly at Peterson's in Philadelphia and came back to Cedar Bayou that fall. His Song of the Corn and The Bluebonnet went into school readers.

What the plaque says

Near Home Site of John Peter Sjolander (1851-1939) A young Swede who came to America in 1871 to earn a living had, before he died, become famous as "The Sage of Cedar Bayou," folk poet for a generation of Texans. Educated by his mother, Sjolander learned Swedish, German, and English by speaking a day of each in turn. His favorite poet was Robert Burns, whom he adopted as a model. He later studied at Trinity University in England, and eventually sailed for America, jumping ship at Galveston Bay to escape a cruel captain. Sjolander landed at Cedar Bayou, which enchanted him with its "trees almost meeting over the water, vines and flowers everywhere." He settled there and found it an inspiration for his pastoral verses. Although he became a farmer, married, and reared six children, Sjolander continued to write, his work appearing in many periodicals. Editors urged him to compose weekly assignments, but he refused for he felt it would make his poetry less spontaneous. In 1928, he published his collected poems, "Salt of the Earth and Sea," which contained verses on legendary heroes and mysterious events of Galveston Bay, as well as nature poems such as "The Bluebonnet." For his many lyrics and ballads, Sjolander has become one of the memorable poets of Texas. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 9.4 mi
  The 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.
• Space Center Houston — 20 mi
  The visitor center of NASA's Johnson Space Center at Clear Lake, with flown capsules, a shuttle replica riding a 747, and tram tours to Mission Control and a Saturn V.
• Emancipation Park — 26 mi
  The Third Ward park that freedpeople bought for Juneteenth in 1872, rebuilt in 2017 on Emancipation Avenue and still the center of the city's June 19 celebration.
• Sam Houston Park and the Heritage Society — 26 mi
  Ten historic buildings gathered in a downtown park below the skyscrapers, among them the 1870 house of the Reverend Jack Yates, built five years after emancipation.

More markers nearby

• Cedar Bayou Masonic Lodge No. 321, A. F. & A. M. — 3.3 mi
• Cedar Bayou United Methodist Church — 3.3 mi
• Humble Oil & Refining Company — 4.9 mi
• Hannah Este Burnet — 6.7 mi