Pinery Station, or The Pinery, was built as a relay station on the
Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
route, located at the crest of
Guadalupe Pass in what is now
Guadalupe Mountains National Park in the U.S. state of
Texas. The station, now in ruins, was built in 1858 and was abandoned the next year. It is located close by
U.S. Routes 62/
160
Year 160 ( CLX) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Atilius and Vibius (or, less frequently, year 913 '' Ab urbe condita''). ...
and is accessible for tourists.
The station location had been a camp for military expeditions since 1849. The station was built as a fortification with stone walls protecting a corral and a second enclosure for the three-room station house. The corral measured by , while the station house enclosure measured by . The station house rooms measured between square and by . The walls were thick and high, giving protection from raids by the local
Mescalero Apaches. The station was located near Pine Spring and featured good grazing land nearby. The station offered fresh teams of horses and hot meals for stage crews and passengers. In 1859 the trail route was changed to pass close to
Fort Davis and
Fort Stockton
Fort Stockton is a city in and the county seat of Pecos County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 10, future Interstate 14, U.S. Highways 67, 285, and 385, and the Santa Fe Railroad, northwest of San Antonio and southeast of ...
. Even after its abandonment it was used by passers-by on the old trail.
The Pinery was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on October 9, 1974
and became a contributing property within the
Butterfield Overland Mail Corridor
In Texas, the Butterfield Overland Mail service created by Congress on March 3, 1857, was operated until March 30, 1861.
The route that was operated extended from San Francisco, California to Los Angeles, then across the Colorado Desert to For ...
NRHP historic district on August 27, 2014.
See also
*
References
External links
The Pineryat Guadalupe Mountains National Park
National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form: Butterfield Overland Mail Corridorfrom
Texas Historical Commission
Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas
Buildings and structures in Culberson County, Texas
National Register of Historic Places in Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Butterfield Overland Mail in Texas
Ruins in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Culberson County, Texas
Stagecoach stations on the National Register of Historic Places
Stagecoach stations in Texas
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas
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