Fort Davis National Historic Site

Along our way from Stillwell Store just north of Big Bend to Van Horn RV Park in west of Texas, we detoured off the fastest route for a few of miles to visit Fort Davis National Historic Site. This was an impromptu stop. We’d spotted it on the map and couldn’t resist the opportunity, we had the time to spare. We started our visit at the Visitors Center to watch the film and visit the museum to learn about this fort established by the US Army in 1854 shortly after both the end of the Mexican War and and the discovery of gold in California to establish and guard the San Antonia – El Paso Trail. It interprets life in this part of Texas as the Apache seek to defend their lands against encroachment by white settlers and the military seek to protect emigrants as well as the passage of mail and freight across the newly expanded United States. We walked the trail around the perimeter of the fort and visited places like the commissary and the hospital to learn more about what life was like for soldiers, officers, and their families here in the mid-Nineteenth Century.

Just before we left the grounds we paused for a 21st Century moment and did a FaceTime chat with our friend Amanda aboard Cunard’s Queen Victoria just before sailing out of New York harbor on the second leg of her around the world journey!