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!