Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A small store with convenience foods and souvenirs is also here. There is very little
past the visitor center except beautiful beaches and dunes where the only sounds you'll
hear are the wind and water, punctuated by the occasional bird's cry.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Corpus Christi to Harlingen
US 77 is the main southbound route from the Corpus Christi to the semitropical south. Ex-
cept for a few diversions like Kingsville, there's 120 miles of scrubland before you reach
Harlingen.
Kingsville
POP 24,800
King is the name of the game in this company town that is the direct result of the fabled
825,000-acre King Ranch, the largest of its kind in the world. Former riverboat captain
Richard King established the ranch in 1853 on land that others saw as a scrub-covered
semidesert. King instead saw semidesert with the only natural springs for hundreds of
miles. Today the ranch is bigger than Rhode Island, a state that the ranch's fences would
reach if they were laid end to end.
Sights & Activities
Kingsville is on US 77 and the ranch makes an interesting stop while passing by or as a
day trip from Corpus Christi. Sadly, the historic downtown has been decimated by chain
stores on the garish strip by the highway, although there's some life on weekdays.
King Ranch
( visitor center 361-592-8055;
www.king-ranch.com
; 2205 W Hwy 141; ranch tours adult/child $12/6;
9am-4pm Mon-Sat, noon-5pm Sun)
Much of the King Ranch is not open to the public, but there
are 60,000 head of cattle, 400 horses and dozens of cowboys here - many are fifth- and
sixth-generation descendants of Mexicans who moved to the ranch in the 1860s.
On the tour's 10-mile loop you will see the horse and cattle breeds that made the ranch
famous, plus some native wildlife. You'll pass the lavish main building (33,000 sq feet),
HISTORIC SITE
