Davis Mountains State Park is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

located in the

Davis Mountains The Davis Mountains, originally known as Limpia Mountains, are a range of mountains in West Texas, located near Fort Davis, after which they are named. The fort was named for then United States Secretary of War and later Confederate President Je ...

Jeff Davis County, Texas Jeff Davis County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,996. Its county seat is Fort Davis. The county is named for Jefferson Davis, who served as the 23rd United States Secretary of War in the 1 ...

. The closest town is

Fort Davis, Texas Fort Davis is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,201 at the 2010 census, up from 1,050 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Jeff Davis County. Hist ...

. The park elevation is between above sea level. The original portion of the park was deeded to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department by a local family. Original improvements were accomplished by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC) in 1933, during the Great Depression. After this federal investment, the park was opened to the public around 1938. Indian Lodge was expanded and campground facilities were added by the state in 1967.

History

Interest in developing a state park in the Davis Mountains began in earnest in 1923 when the

Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ...

directed the newly created State Parks Board to investigate the area. However, the Parks Board failed to secure any land donations and had no appropriations to buy the land. By 1933, the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

had so devastated the local economy that landowners agreed to donate 560 acres for the park. CCC Companies 879 and 881 arrived in June 1933 and began organizing their encampment, which they named Camp Washington Seawell, after the first commander of nearby Fort Davis. Their developments in the park included roads, an overlook shelter, two mess halls, stone picnic tables, fireplaces and steps, a latrine and "Indian Lodge," a motel and visitor facility.

Features

The park is next to the

Fort Davis National Historic Site Fort Davis National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located in the unincorporated community of Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, Texas. Located within the Davis Mountains of West Texas, the historic site was established in ...

and the two are connected by four miles of

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

trails. Within the park is the "Indian Lodge", an

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries ...

with thirty-nine rooms. Sixteen were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s (completed in 1939) and twenty-four were added in a 1967 expansion by Texas Parks and Wildlife. A large bird blind next to the main road offers enclosed and open viewing areas for the many species of birds that are attracted to the feeders near the blind. The park has seven miles of

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

trails in the special use Limpia Canyon Primitive Area, the section of the park north of

Texas State Highway 118 State Highway 118 (SH 118) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Texas that runs from Big Bend National Park north to Kent and passes through the towns of Study Butte, Alpine, and Fort Davis. SH 118 is maintained by the Texas Department of ...

Flora

Davis Mountains State Park receives more rain than the surrounding

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

. A variety of trees are found here, such as

Mexican pinyon ''Pinus cembroides'', also known as pinyon pine, Mexican pinyon, Mexican nut pine, and Mexican stone pine, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to western North America. It grows in areas with low levels of rainfall and its range extends so ...

(''Pinus cembroides''), Emory oak (''

Quercus emoryi ''Quercus emoryi'', the Emory oak, is a species of oak common in Arizona (including inside Saguaro National Park), New Mexico and western Texas (including inside Big Bend National Park), United States, and northern Mexico (Sonora, Chihuahua, Co ...

''), gray oak (''

Quercus grisea ''Quercus grisea'', commonly known as the gray oak, shin oak or scrub oak, is a North American species deciduous or evergreen shrub or medium-sized tree in the white oak group. It is native to the mountains of the southwestern United States and ...

'') and one-seed juniper (''

Juniperus monosperma ''Juniperus monosperma'' is a species of juniper native to western North America, in the United States in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Colorado, western Oklahoma (Panhandle), and western Texas, and in Mexico in the extreme north of Chihuahua. It ...

''). Shrubs such as scarlet bouvardia (''

Bouvardia ''Bouvardia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It contains about 50 species of evergreen herbs and shrubs native to Mexico and Central America, with one species extending into the southwestern United States ('' B. ternifol ...

ternifolia''), little-leaf leadtree ('' Leucaena retusa''), trompillo (''

Ipomoea hederifolia ''Ipomoea hederifolia'' is a species of herbaceous annual vine native to the Americas. It was first described by Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné ...

''), evergreen sumac ('' Rhus virens''), fragrant sumac (''

Rhus aromatica ''Rhus aromatica'', the fragrant sumac, is a deciduous shrub in the family Anacardiaceae native to North America.(1) (2) It is found in southern Canada (Alberta to Quebec) and nearly all of the lower 48 states except peninsular Florida. Fragr ...

''), Apache plume ('' Fallugia paradoxa''), little walnut ('' Juglans microcarpa''), tree cholla (''

Cylindropuntia imbricata ''Cylindropuntia imbricata'', the cane cholla (walking stick cholla, tree cholla, or chainlink cactus), is a cactus found in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico, including some cooler regions in comparison to many other cacti. It ...

''), Torrey yucca ('' Yucca torreyi''), catclaw acacia (''

Acacia greggii ''Senegalia greggii'', formerly known as ''Acacia greggii'', is a species of tree in the genus ''Senegalia'' native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, from the extreme south of Utah south through southern Nevada, southeast Ca ...

''), and agarita (''

Mahonia trifoliolata ''Mahonia trifoliolata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Berberidaceae, in southwestern North America. Common names include agarita, agrito, algerita, currant-of-Texas, wild currant, and chaparral berry. The name Agarita comes from ...

'') abound. The high elevations above sea level, not in the park, boast

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

(''Pinus ponderosa'') and quaking aspen (''

Populus tremuloides ''Populus tremuloides'' is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. It is commonly called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen, mountain or golden aspen, tr ...

'').

Fauna

Montezuma quail The Montezuma quail (''Cyrtonyx montezumae'') is a stubby, secretive New World quail of Mexico and some nearby parts of the United States. It is also known as Mearns's quail, the harlequin quail (for the male's striking pattern), and the fool q ...

are regularly observed in the park.

Woodhouse's scrub jay Woodhouse's scrub jay (''Aphelocoma'' ''woodhouseii''), is a species of scrub jay native to western North America, ranging from southeastern Oregon and southern Idaho to central Mexico. Woodhouse's scrub jay was until recently considered the sam ...

white-winged dove The white-winged dove (''Zenaida asiatica'') is a dove whose native range extends from the Southwestern United States through Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. They are large for doves, and can be distinguished from similar doves by th ...

s, curve-billed thrashers,

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

and

rock squirrel The rock squirrel (''Otospermophilus variegatus'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae and is native to Mexico and the Southwestern United States, including southern Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, and the panha ...

s are among the most common wildlife seen.

Collared peccary The collared peccary (''Dicotyles tajacu'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Tayassuidae found in North, Central, and South America. It is the only member of the genus ''Dicotyles''. They are commonly referred to as ' ...

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

s, and

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...

s have also been recorded in the park.

Gallery

Image:Davis Mountains State Park Outcropping.JPG, Rock outcropping along the Indian Lodge Trail Image:Indian Lodge Davis Mountains State Park.JPG, View of Indian Lodge from the Indian Lodge Trail Image:Indian lodge tx lobby.jpg, Indian Lodge lobby interior Image:Davis Mountains State Park View.JPG, View of Davis Mountains State Park (Indian Lodge to the far left)

References

External links

"Davis Mountains State Park," ''Texas Parks and Wildlife''.Film of Davis Mountains State Park from ''Adventure at Our Door'' (c. 1959)
on the

Texas Archive of the Moving Image The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film h ...

{{authority control Protected areas of Jeff Davis County, Texas State parks of Texas Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas Protected areas established in 1938 1938 establishments in Texas