Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WEST OF BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK
Small towns. Ghost towns. Towns that aren't even really towns. Throw in lots of dust and a
scorching summer heat that dries out the stream of visitors until it's just a trickle. This isn't
everyone's idea of a dream vacation. But if you can't relax out here, then you just plain
can't relax. Whatever concerns you have in your everyday life are likely to melt away
(along with anything you leave in your car). With rugged natural beauty and some offbeat
destinations, you can see why this unlikely corner of the country is actually fueled almost
entirely by tourism.
This is the land that public transportation forgot. You'll need a car, not just to get to Ter-
lingua, but to get around once you're there.
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Terlingua & Study Butte
POP 267
A former mining boomtown in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Terlingua went bust
when they closed down the cinnabar mines in the 1940s. The town dried up and blew away
like a tumbleweed, leaving buildings that fell into ruins and earning Terlingua a place in
Texas folklore as a ghost town.
But slowly the area has become repopulated, thanks in large part to its proximity to Big
Bend National Park, to which it supplies housing for park employees, as well as services to
the more than 300,000 park visitors each year. Several businesses make their homes in and
around the ghost town; many of the old adobes have been reclaimed by river guides, artists
and others who relish the solitude of the outback.
You'll hear people talk about Terlingua, Study Butte (pronounced 'stoody byoot'), and
Terlingua ghost town as if they're three different towns, but the only real town here is Ter-
lingua; the other two are just areas of the town. Addresses are a relative and fluid thing out
here; have patience if you're using a GPS, but take comfort knowing the town's not all that
big.
