Jeff Davis County

DOWNTOWN FORT DAVIS - With its 1888 courthouse in the distance and its many Old West buildings, Fort Davis is a rustic and charming little town that grew up around a 19th Century cavalry post of the same name. State highway 118 is the main street through town, and almost the only paved street. Pleasant climate, good accomodations, light traffic, easy parking, no traffic lights, quiet yet with plenty of things to do nearby, it is a wonderful place to visit.

     Twenty-five miles north of Alpine is Fort Davis, county seat of Jeff Davis County. It is a good sized county of 2,264 square miles, but is has a population of only 2,342, of which 1,201 live in Fort Davis. The county is very scenic containing the entire Davis Mountain range, which is most extensive mountain range in the Texas. There is also a large, wide open grassy plateau used for ranching and several scenic canyons. Most of all it is high. At 8,378 ft., Mt. Livermore in the Davis Mountains is the second highest mountain in Texas. And Fort Davis, which sits at the foot of the Davis Mountains, is nonetheless 5,050 ft. above sea level, making it the highest town in Texas. The elevation combined with low humidity make Ft. Davis a cool spot during the summer, yet it is mild in the winter.

HISTORIC FORT DAVIS - Established in 1854 to protect Overland Trail travelers from Indians, Fort Davis gave rise to the town of Fort Davis, which gradually expanded from being a soldier's town to become a ranching and commerical center and county seat. When the fort was decommissioned in 1891, it fell into disrepair. Eventually the U.S. Park Service took it over as historic site and has been slowly reconstructing it. The two large buildings in the center are reconstructed barracks, of which there were eight when the fort was operation. The low walls in the foreground are one of the quartermaster's buildings, made of adobe, which appears to be getting some attention. Each time I visit the fort there seems to be a little more that has been resurrected from ruins. There are currently about about 20 buildings standing. The original fort had about 60 major buildings.

     Jeff Davis County has a surprising number of varied attractions for such a thinly settled place. They include:

- Fort Davis - the town - is itself an attraction. Many people love the place, seeing it as a charming old western town with cars instead of horses. There are quaint places to stay, including the exquisite, 100-year-old Limpia Hotel on the town square plus several B&Bs and even some ranches. All its businesses are local, not a single chain store nor restaurant. There is not a single traffic light, and most of the streets are unpaved. And then, of course, there is the cavalry post down the street....

- Fort Davis National Historic Site is considered one of the best Old West army posts in America.
Begun in 1854 and named after Jefferson Davis, who was the U.S. secretary of war at the time, Ft. Davis sat astride the Overland Trail and guarded it against hostile Comanches and Apaches for about 35 years. During the Civil War, however, it was abandoned to the Confederacy, which did not have the manpower to keep it occupied. So, for about six years, it served as a woodpile for the Indians, until the U.S. Army moved back in 1867,

- Davis Mountains State Park is one of the most popular state parks in Texas. Wild mountain vistas, cool weather, plentiful wildlife and proximity to charming Fort Davis are magnets for visitors who hike, bird watch, take pictures or just kick back. The park serves RVs and tenters, and it has a unique, pueblo-like hotel, Indian Lodge, built by the CCC in 1933.

MOUNT LOCKE - In the foreground is the original, 1938

82-inch McDonald Observatory telescope. When it was

built, it was the only thing on the mountain. Besides

astronomy related facilities, the structure also contained

living quarters and cooking facilities for the astronomers

and staff working there. The dome to the rear is the

107-inch telescope built in 1968.

- McDonald Observatory, owned and operated by the University of Texas, is one of the great

MOUNT FOWLKES - Built in 1997, the Hobby-Eberly

360-inch telescope on a peak adjacent to Mt. Locke was

designed specifically for spectroscopy, which seems to

be a major pursuit at McDonald Observatory.

observatories in the world. Because West Texas has the darkest night skies in the Lower 48 as well as dry, clear air, 6,791 ft. Mt. Locke in the Davis Mountains was chosen to build an observatory in the 1930s. It started in 1938 with a single 82-inch telescope - at the time the second largest in the world - and has grown into a complex with numerous telescopes of various sizes, designs and purposes, plus an on-site village of resident support staff jokingly call McDonald City, all clustered on or just below the summit. Along with an array of smaller telescopes, the observatory now includes an 107-inch scope built in 1968 and the 360-inch Hobby-Eberly telescope built in 1997.

- Scenic Loop Drive. Starting and ending in Fort Davis, this fascinating scenic, 75-mile drive goes through, over and beside the Davis Mountains. It passes by or through Prude Ranch, the state park, McDonald Observatory, highland ranches and lovely Madera Canyon before eventually winding down to the foot of the mountains where one drives along for miles with the mountains on one side of and endless plateau on the other. Like the Blue Ridge Parkway or the Overseas Highway, it is one of those drives that you should go on if you get the chance and you will never forget.

- Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center & Botanical Gardens includes a 20-acre botanical garden, a "succulent" greenhouse with over 200 kinds of cacti, nature hikes and an interpretation center.

- Rattlers and Reptiles in Fort Davis displays local snakes, scorpions, spiders, etc. in an old creepy looking building that makes one wonder if instead of it holding cages it IS the cage. Made me nervous to go inside. Nonetheless, interesting and educational.

- The Overland Trail Museum. Located in the Fort Davis home of an early settler, this hometown museum preserves not only the home but also photos, farm equipment and other objects of pioneer days in Jeff Davis County.

- Prude Ranch, once a large "real ranch," converted many years ago to an early dude ranch. Prude ranch has extensive facilities and different types of guest quarters that are interesting to see even if you don't want to stay there.

     Now I call that a long and varied list of things to do in such a thinly populated area. I have been to Fort Davis several times during the past eight years, and I always enjoy the place.

VISITOR CENTER, TAKE 1 - The McDonald Observatory contains a museum, theatre, sandwich shop and, or course, a gift shop. The domes of the 107-inch (left) and 82-inch telescopes are on the crest of Mt. Locke above. Four smaller scopes are beside, on top of and behind the visitor center.

VISITOR CENTER, TAKE 2 - Looking down from the side of Mt. Fowlkes, which is a adjacent to Mt. Locke, shows the entire visitor center complex. Note the amphitheatre on the left behind the visitor building. Three nights a week the observatory holds public "star parties" there.  Visitors gather under the very dark sky for a sublime view of the stars and a program by McDonald staff using telescopic images.

ON MT. LOCKE'S SUMMIT - I know I am supposed to be the low road traveler, but somehow I ended up on the highest road in Texas. McDonald Observatory is owned by the University of Texas and therefore its roads are maintained as part of the Texas highway system. The views from the summits of both Mt. Locke and Mt. Fowlkes were tremendous, but hazy. People around here tell me air pollution is increasing all the time, and it cuts many miles off the view, especially in the summer. Shame. Prominent in this picture is massive Blue Mountain of the Davis range, about 10-15 miles away. The furthest mountains I could see were about 45 miles away, and they were hazy.

PEAK TO PEAK - This was taken from near the summit of Mt. Fowlkes, home of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, looking toward Mt. Locke, site of the observatory's two other major telescopes. The road descends down into a saddle between the two mountains and then up to the other peak. Note the dormitory with the reddish roof just beneath the larger telescope. It is for visiting astronomers while working at McDonald. However, it is less and less necessary for astronomers to actually come to McDonald to do their work. Astronomer's no longer sit for hours inside the cold telescope dome peering through an eyepiece. Now a computer does the peering and sends an image of what it sees to a nice, warm control room where it can viewed live and/or recorded and looked at later. Of course, those same images can  be transmitted anywhere in the world. An astronomer at the Sorbonne can "phone in" what he wants to look at. The staff at McDonald will aim the telescope accordingly and electronically send him the pictures.