Editing Padre Island National Seashore (section)

==Padre Island==
{{Further|Padre Island}}
Padre Island National Seashore is located on Padre Island, the largest of the [[Texas barrier islands]] and the world's longest [[barrier island]]. The island is located along Texas's southern coast of the [[Gulf of Mexico]] and is noted for its white sandy beaches. Meaning ''father'' in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], it was named after Father [[Padre Ballí|José Nicolás Ballí]] (c.1770-1829), who owned the island and served as a missionary priest and collector of finances for all the churches in the [[Rio Grande Valley (Texas)|Rio Grande Valley]]. He also founded the first [[Spanish missions in Texas|mission]] in present-day [[Cameron County, Texas|Cameron County]].<ref name="HTexas">{{cite web |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fba50  |title=Ballí, José Nicolás |work=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Society |access-date=2015-08-15}}</ref>

It is about {{convert|113|mi|km|0}} long and {{convert|1.8|mi|km|0}} wide,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Garrison|first1=J. R.|last2=Williams|first2=J.|last3=Potter Miller|first3=S.|last4=Weber|first4=E. T.|last5=McMechan|first5=G.|last6=Zeng|first6=X.|title=Ground-Penetrating Radar Study of North Padre Island: Implications for Barrier Island Internal Architecture, Model for Growth of Progradational Microtidal Barrier Islands, and Gulf of Mexico Sea-Level Cyclicity|journal=Journal of Sedimentary Research|date=2010|volume=80|issue=4|pages=303–319|doi=10.2110/jsr.2010.034|bibcode=2010JSedR..80..303G}}</ref> Padre Island is the second-largest island by area in the [[contiguous United States]], after [[Long Island]] in New York on the Atlantic Coast.<ref>* {{citation|title=Padre Island|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/438044/Padre-Island|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}<!-- other refs:
http://www.nps.gov/pwr/customcf/apps/maps/showmap.cfm?alphacode=pais&parkname=Padre%20Island%20National%20Seashore. 
--></ref>