Marfa, Texas: Tough To Get Here, Tougher To Explain, But Once You Get Here, You Get it

Marfa, Texas. I think their tagline says it all. Tough to get here, tougher to explain, but once you get here, you get it.

Marfa is in the middle of Chihuahuan Desert, aka nowhere. You have to be looking for this town to find it, yet when we pulled in, it was bustling with tourist just walking around. We were there on a Thursday!

Marfa was established in 1883 as a water stop for the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway. The town was named after a Russian character in a book, Marfa being the Russian pronunciation of Martha. In 1885, their beautiful courthouse was built and it became the county seat of Presidio County. Marfa stole that distinction from Fort Davis, whose citizens were not happy about it.

The Old Presidio County Jail is across the street. It was built in 1885 and now houses the county archives. Too bad it's not a museum like the one in Fort Stockton. It's a cool looking building.

The Hotel Paisano is where we stayed. This hotel, the third that we stayed in on this trip, was also designed by Henry Trost. It was built in 1930 for cattle ranchers who would come to Marfa to buy and sell their cattle. In 1955, the cast of Giant (Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean) stayed at this hotel. By 2001, it was run down and falling apart. It was sold at auction on the courthouse steps. By November 2001, it had been completely renovated.

While the room itself was on the smaller side, it was comfortable and roomy enough for us to each have enough space.

We also had our own patio with a little fireplace. If we'd had more time here, we would have made use of it. We would definitely stay here again!

The Hotel St. George, where the "drummers" (aka Traveling salesmen) used to stay is directly across the street from the old train depot. The Hotel Paisano is about a block from there. The original St. George was built in the 1880s and served travelers and cowboys alike until about 1929. The current hotel opened in 2016 and used some of the materials from the original hotel. I thought the Paisano had more character.

Marfa had begun to fade away when, in 1973, Donald Judd, an artist re-discovered it. He bought several buildings (like this one) and used them as galleries for his art.  Other artists followed. The top floor of this building, I believe are lofts.

There are tons of little galleries such as this one.

This is Carmen's Marfa Hotel, a little boutique hotel with a cool mural.

The vibe of the town is a little difficult to explain but I know I wanted to spend more time there. We only stayed one night.

Honestly, it didn't seem like much as we strolled around the little square yet, if we hadn't been on a schedule, we'd have stayed an extra night to dig in a little more.

The neon sign for the hotel that could be "seen for miles around".

Just outside the town is the sign for the Stardust Motel. It's all that remains of the motor court that was there several years ago. The motel was around back in the 1950s and was originally called the San Jacinto Motel. The sign was a model of the monument. The name was later changed to the Stardust. As to what happened to the hotel, I can only imagine that it faded away.

This is something that I don't think Marfa plays up enough. The movie Giant was filmed out here! The stars stayed in Marfa! There's one room in the Hotel Paisano that has Giant related stuff but that's it.

These displays on the side of the road about 30 minutes outside of town had no advertising, We just happened to see them and we pulled over. They were very cool and obviously maintained or they'd be faded by the sun.

This is the Prada Marfa. It's about 90 miles outside of Marfa, almost to Valentine. There were lines of people waiting to take their photo in front of the store. It's in the middle of nowhere! It's an art installation that was built in 2005. Even Beyonce has come out here to have her photo taken, so I've read.

There are no chain restaurants in Marfa. They do have a Lowes Market for a grocery store so that gives them the leg up on Marathon in terms of isolation. There are only 1,800 people that live here. 

Marfa was definitely a surprise for me. I liked the vibe of the town and would definitely go back. It could be an alternative to Marathon if you're planning on venturing into Big Bend. Check it out!

Alpine, Texas: The Heart of Big Bend

As we continue our journey through west Texas, we stopped in another small town, this one flanked by the Davis Mountains and the Glass Mountains. Alpine.

Alpine is the county seat of Brewster County and the home to Sul Ross State University. In 1878, this area was cattle country and cattlemen would camp out in tents with their herds.

Then in 1882, railroad workers were camping out in tents with their families. The community at that time was called Osborne because that was the section of the railroad line they were building. A father and son named Daniel and Thomas Murphy owned the land on which there were springs. The railroad needed a water source so they entered into an agreement with the Murphys and changed the name of the settlement to Murphyville. At the time, Murphyville was in Presidio County. It wasn't until 1887 that Brewster County was carved from Presidio County.

In 1888, Murphyville became Alpine, which then became the county seat. The courthouse was built in 1887 and served Buchel and Foley counties as well until they were folded into Brewster County.

This is the old Brewster County Jail built in 1888. It sits behind the courthouse. It ceased to be a jail in 1995 when the new jail was built. Now it houses offices for the Brewster County Sheriff.

The Ritchey Hotel was built in 1882 as a place for the cowhands and ranchers to stay when they were in town to ship their cattle. The hotel faces the cattle loading pens for the Southern Pacific Railway. Now it houses a bar.

The Holland Hotel was built in 1912 by John Holland, a prominent Cattleman. There was a lot of mercury mining in the Big Bend area at that time and he felt that the miners needed someplace to stay. He contracted Henry Trost (designer of the Gage Hotel in Marathon). 

We stayed at this historic hotel, which had supposedly been renovated in 2024. It was a huge disappointment. It had not been renovated that we could tell. The rooms were very small and the cost very high for what it was. This was our room. The sink was outside the bathroom and there was barely room between the bed and that dresser.

The Alpine train depot is directly across the street from the Holland Hotel. It's an active train station for the Amtrak. We heard the trains go through town and proudly honk their horn at 3 am.

Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. In 1896, the land was deeded to the Catholic Church by Thomas and Daniel Murphy. The original church was and adobe building built in 1902. It was ministered by traveling priests. The present building was built in 1943.

Sul Ross State University, named for Lawrence Sullivan Ross, was created in 1920 as Sul Ross Normal College. The purpose of the school was to train teachers. It now offers a variety of bachelor and master degree plans. The University has about 2,500 students that attend.

This was the highlight of our stay in Alpine. The Museum of the Big Bend. It's located on the campus of Sul Ross State University and has been there since 1925! It tells the story of the area in the Big Bend region. Did you know that Big Bend National Park got is name because of the big bend in the Rio Grande

There are exhibits and story boards that give you the history of the area. This particular exhibit has to do with the test case of the Army using camels in the desert to move things instead of mules. It was actually a successful venture but the Civil War interrupted the testing and I guess they just forgot about it. The camels used in the testing were eventually sold to ranchers or the traveling circus.

This is a giant wheel bicycle that was ridden by F. P. Ingersoll. In 1892, he rode this bike from Sycamore, Ohio to Midland, Texas! He was a carpenter and, to fund the trip, he would stop along the way and do carpentry work. The sign didn't say how long the trip took but I can't imagine this was a fun adventure. He stayed in Midland for a year before he rode on to Pecos, Texas where he married and became a school teacher.

This is the chuck wagon. Texas Cattleman Charles Goodnight, called Chuck, invented the mobile kitchen for cattle drives. The chuck wagon would carry essentials for feeding hungry cowboys. 

The museum also has art exhibits like this one. These are paintings by Bob Stuth-Wade that are amazing.

Beautiful view of the mountains from the Museum of the Big Bend.

Alpine is a sleepy little town. Despite hosting a state university, there are no chain restaurants other than Subway, McDonald's and Sonic. The closest Starbucks is in Pecos which is 100 miles away. They have a Lowes Market and another small grocery store in addition to the Family Dollar & Dollar General stores. The lower end hotels like Holiday Inn Express and Hampton Inn are both available as well as other small independent hotels.

For me Alpine was a bit disappointing. In my mind, it had great potential but there are only 6.000 people that live there. Having said that, the Museum of the Big Bend definitely makes Alpine a place to put on your bucket list.

Fort Davis, Texas: Where The Stars Come Out To Play

Nestled at the foot of the Davis Mountains are the remains of a magnificent fort, Fort Davis. It was established in 1854 on the San Antonio-El Paso road to protect travelers. Like Fort Stockton, it was abandoned by the US Army during the civil war but re- established afterwards. African-American soldiers were deployed there.

It's now a National Historic Site. The museum tells the story of how the soldiers lived and what they did. 

The barracks where the enlisted soldiers slept. John tries out the cot and deems it not so comfy.

The Davis Mountains. The fort was named for Jefferson Davis who, at the time, was Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. After the Civil War, the fort was re-established in 1867. The soldiers would scout/patrol all the way down to Big Bend for the purpose of keeping it safe for the travelers, settlers and the mail service that used this route. While several of the buildings are still in tact, others are just the ruins of what was there. This was the junior officer's quarters. Luckily, the Park service is trying to reconstruct the buildings.

This was the post Church. A lot happened here. Church services, obviously, but also dances, meetings and unfortunately, a court martial. Second Lieutenant Henry Flipper was born into slavery. He was also the first African American Graduate from West Point. His military career was going well. Stationed at Fort Davis, he was the assistant quartermaster. Then money that he was responsible for went missing. He was found not guilty but because he tried to hide the loss, he was dismissed from the military for conduct unbecoming of an officer. It wasn't until 1976 that his discharge was changed from dishonorable to honorable. Then in 1999, he was given a full pardon by President Bill Clinton.

In 1891, the fort was deemed no longer useful and was ordered abandoned.

In 1871, the town of Fort Davis was the county seat of what was then Presidio County. The original courthouse burned down in the early 1900s. But prior to that in 1885, the railroad skipped Fort Davis and went through Marfa instead. That moved the county seat of Presidio county to Marfa. The citizens of Fort Davis were not happy. They immediately petitioned to get their own county, which they did in 1887. This courthouse was built in 1911.

The county jail was built across the street from the courthouse in 1911. The front of the jail was divided into rooms for the jailer and included a kitchen, office, bedroom and the front entryway. The back of building is where the cellblocks were. The building was converted to a museum and has panels giving the biographies of the sheriffs and employees that worked there. I would loved to have gone inside but it was closed while we were there.

The Hotel Limpia, named for the nearby creek, was built in 1912. It was a place where the people gathered for social interaction, to catch up on news, etc. For a while it was converted to apartments but then back in 1978, the hotel was reestablished.

The Fort Davis Drugstore was established in 1913 and was originally located inside Hotel Limpia and was a social gathering place. In 1942, C.R. Fryer bought the store from Dr. & Mrs. Eaton and they moved it from the hotel to this location across the street. In the early 1980s, new owners took over and added hotel space to the building. Now, it's a full-service restaurant and hotel but it still has its original soda fountain.

Founded in 1873, the Union Mercantile was in this building. Owned by W. Keesey, they sold a little bit of everything from groceries to clothing to guns to wagon wheels. The original adobe structure was replaced by this stone structure in 1906. The first telephone in the county operated out of this store. It is now the Jeff Davis County Library.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church began in 1872. The first church was erected in 1879. There were several friars that would travel around to the 18 churches in the area to minister to the people. This building was erected in 1899.

High up in the Davis mountains is where the stars come out to play. We attended a "Star Party" hosted by the McDonald Observatory.

The observatory is run by the University of Texas at Austin and is at the top of the Davis Mountains. The party started about 8pm. This is where the "Stars at night are big and bright".

The observatory should definitely be on your bucket list. The drive is pretty during the day as well as at sunset. At the party, they had telescopes set up for everyone to take a look. We saw the moon, Mars, Jupiter, the Orion nebula and Pleiades, aka the seven sisters (and the symbol on the Subaru car).

The moon was bright enough to see without the telescope. Then one of the astronomers used a laser pointer and gave us a "tour of the galaxy" by pointing out the various constellations. It was amazing.

Fort Davis is a remote town at the foot of the Davis Mountains. If you want a Big Mac, you have to drive the 30 miles to Alpine. The nearest Starbucks is in Pecos 75 miles away! They do have a grocery store called Lowes Market as well as a mom and pop store called the Stone Village Market where you can also get a great sandwich.

In 2020, there were about 1,000 people living there. Tourism is their main source of revenue so if you're in the area, stop and visit! It's well worth it.