The Contrabando is a ghost town within the

Big Bend Ranch State Park Big Bend Ranch State Park is a state park located on the Rio Grande in Brewster and Presidio counties, Texas. It is the largest state park in Texas. The closest major town is Presidio, Texas, where the state park's head office is located.

, west of

Lajitas, Texas Lajitas is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Brewster County, Texas, United States, near the Big Bend National Park. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 75 in 2010. History The settlement is name ...

, on the Texas State Highway 170. Contrabando Church

The Contrabando consists of an original adobe building called 'La Casita' and several later additions that became part of the Contrabando during its use as a movie set. The movie set was constructed in 1985 for the Roy Clark film ''Uphill all the Way''. The site has been used as a set for nine movies including John Sayles' 1996 movie '' Lone Star''; as well as ''Dead Man’s Walk'' and '' Streets of Laredo'', which were part of the '' Lonesome Dove''

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

based upon the

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

by Larry McMurtry. In September 2008, heavy rains and flooding occurred in Ojinaga, Mexico. The rain, and the ensuing release of water from local flood control structures, caused widespread flooding, and resulted in damage to the movie set buildings at the Contrabando. The original Casita was not damaged. In 2015, the buildings, except for the Casita, were removed for safety reasons.

References

External links

Flickr Photos of the Contrabando

YouTube Video of the Contrabando
{{coord, 29.2877, -103.8969, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-TX, display=title Ghost towns in West Texas