Nature
Barry Scobee Mountain
(6300 ft. elev.) Camp grounds and lookout post (1850s-1880s) for military, mail coaches, freighters, travelers, emigrants. Site of area's last Indian raid, 1881. Part of John G. Prude Ranch. Named by Gov. John Connally Dec. 21, 1964, to honor Barry Scobee whose efforts were largely responsible for the preservation of old Fort Davis. He was born, 1885, in Missouri. Served in U. S.
Civic & Local
Bloys Camp Meeting
Held each year since 1890. Founded by Rev. W. B. Bloys, a Presbyterian. His camp pulpit was an Arbuckle Coffee crate. First campers, 48 people from remote ranches and towns, slept in tents, wagons. Family groups had chuck-box meals, sharing with guests. Some 1,500 attend mid-August meetings today. Still nothing is ever sold in camp.
History
Confederate President Jefferson Davis
(1808-1889) Friend of Texas. Visited first as officer Mexican War 1847. As U. S. Secretary of War in 1855, built up frontier forts to open West Texas to settlers. Camels imported for patrols, hauling. His postmaster-general and personal aide were Texans, as were many on general staff.
History
First Rural School West of Pecos River
Built 1881 of adobe brick, by settlers P. H. Pruett, Cal Nations, James Dawson, Joe Dorsey. At the same time Pruett built home a half-mile north. A Texas Rangers' camp in area gave protection from Indians. Mrs. Pruett once made a midnight ride to alert Rangers to approach of Apaches. Pruett sold home, 1883, to Fort Davis Commandant B. H. Grierson, and founded "Lone Cottonwood" Ranch 4 miles east.
History
Fort Davis
Established by Lieut. Col. Washington Seawell with six companies of the Eighth U.S. Infantry in October 1854 for protecting travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso Road. Named in honor of the then Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, it was abandoned by federal troops in April 1861, reoccupied in 1867. Troops from the post helped to bring about the peaceful settlement and development of the region.
Nature
Granado Mountain
The 6,076-foot high peak traditionally known as Granado Mountain or La Granada was named for Trinidad Granado (1868-1958), a rancher whose ranch was at the base of the mountain. The original owner was Belgian-born founding settler Anton Diedrick Dutchover who acquired the tract and mountain from the State of Texas in 1876.
Architecture
Grierson-Sproul House
This masonry residence resembles other buildings in the community, including several officer's quarters at the military post of Fort Davis. Completed in 1908 by B. H. Grierson Jr., the house incorporates pink volcanic rock known as tuff that exemplifies early 20th century construction.
History
Hotel Limpia
Named for a nearby creek, was built here by the Union Trading Company in 1912. With a doctor's office, drugstore, stylish guest rooms, and spacious porches the hotel became a community social center where area news could be heard, a game of croquet played, or voting results observed.
Architecture
Jeff Davis County Courthouse
Designed by the architectural firm of l. L. Thurman and Co. of Dallas, this building was erected in 1910-1911 and replaced the original 1880 adobe courthouse. This concrete and stone Classical Revival edifice, erected by the Falls City Construction Company of Louisville, Kentucky, is dominated by a massive portico supported by Doric columns.
History
Jeff Davis County Jail
THE COMMUNITY OF FORT DAVIS GREW UP AROUND THE MILITARY POST OF THE SAME NAME, ESTABLISHED BY THE U.S. ARMY IN 1854 TO PROTECT TRAVELERS ON THE SAN ANTONIO-EL PASO ROAD. FORT DAVIS WAS DESIGNATED AS THE PRESIDIO COUNTY SEAT WHEN THE COUNTY WAS ORGANIZED IN 1875, BUT THE COUNTY SEAT WAS RELOCATED TO MARFA IN 1885.
Industry & Science
McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas
Original unit in complex forming one of the great observatory centers of the world. Built in the 1930s under terms of legacy from William Johnson McDonald (1844-1926), a Paris (Texas) banker interested in the stars. A well-educated man, McDonald lived frugally. As a hobby, he read science books and viewed planets through a small telescope.
Military
Old Fort Davis C. S. A.
(Star and Wreath) Confederate supply point and frontier outpost on great military road from San Antonio to El Paso 1861-62. After surrendered by U. S. Army, occupied by detachment 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles. Apaches ambushed patrol from fort under Lt. Mays in Big Bend area August 1861.
History
Pioneer Cemetery
Used from 1870s to 1914. Settlers buried here include: Mr. and Mrs. Diedrick Dutchover, immigrants from Belgium and Spain; their surname, coined by a recruiter in the Mexican War, is borne by many descendants.
History
Ruins of the Ranch Home of Manuel Musquiz
Ruins of the ranch home of Manuel Musquiz, a pioneer who settled here in 1854 - Abandoned due to Indian Raids - The deserted buildings served as a Ranger station intermittently, 1880-1882 while the country was being cleared of Indians and bandits. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Transport
San Antonio-El Paso Road
Westward expeditions opened trails from San Antonio to El Paso in the late 1840s. Two routes, called the upper and lower roads, converged at the Pecos River to traverse the Davis Mountains. Henry Skillman (1814-1864) began a courier service along the road in 1850 and was awarded a U. S. Government contract to carry the mail. He formed a partnership with George H.
Architecture
Smith-Carlton Adobe House
In 1873, Archie Smith, a former Buffalo Soldier in the 24th U.S. Infantry at Fort Davis, built a home on 160 acres near the base of Dolores Mountain using local materials. Native oak beams support the near-rectangular one-story adobe. A large room with a vaulted ceiling was a private chapel for Smith's wife. It was also open to other denominations and Catholic masses before St. Joseph was built.
Architecture
Trueheart House
An excellent example of a Queen Anne style house executed in native stone, adobe, and milled wood, this house was built about 1898 as a summer home for the family of Henry M. and Annie Trueheart, residents of Galveston, where Mr. Trueheart was a prominent real estate investor. The family spent summers here to escape the coastal heat and enjoy the healthful climate of the Davis Mountains.
History
Union Mercantile
Founded 1873 by O. M. Keesey and Geo. Gaither in adobe building on this site. Later owned by W. Keesey, an army baker, who sold clothing, groceries, cradles, guns, whiskey, coffins, tobacco, spittoons, wagonwheels, and harness, and did private banking. First telephone in county operated out of store via barbed wire line to ranches.
Nature
Wild Rose Pass
In early days the Indian trail through these mountains followed the gorge below known as Limpia Canyon. To avoid the floods travelers over the San Antonio - El Paso Road, emigrants, U.S. troops and supply trains, and the mail chose this higher pass famed for its wealth of wild roses. Erected by the State of Texas 1956.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
