Llano County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 21,243. Its county seat is Llano, and the county is named for the Llano River.
Morton is a city in and the county seat of Cochran County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 1,690. This represented a 15.8% population decline since the 2010 Census.
Floydada is a city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Texas, United States. This rural community lies on the high plains of the Llano Estacado in West Texas and is sometimes referred to as the Pumpkin Capital of Texas. The population was 2,675 at the 2020 census, down from 3,038 at the 2010 census and 3,676 at the 2000 census.
Llano is a city in Llano County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the city population was 3,325. It is the county seat of Llano County. Llano has been described as the "deer capital of Texas", with the single highest density of white-tailed deer in the United States.
Brownfield is a city in Terry County, Texas, United States. Its population was 8,936 at the 2020 census. Brownfield is 39 miles southwest of Lubbock, it is the county seat of Terry County.
The Brazos River, called the Río de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers, is the 14th-longest river in the United States at 1,280 miles (2,060 km) from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Roosevelt County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a 45,000-square-mile (116,000 km2) drainage basin. Being one of Texas' largest rivers, it is sometimes used to mark the boundary between East Texas and West Texas.
Palo Duro Canyon is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment located in the Texas Panhandle near the cities of Amarillo and Canyon. As one of the largest canyons in the United States, it is roughly 25–40 mi (40–64 km) long and has an average width of 6 mi (9.7 km), but reaches a width of 20 mi (32 km) at places. Its depth is around 800 ft (240 m), but in some locations, valley bottom to surrounding hills increases to 1,000 ft (300 m). Palo Duro Canyon has been named "The Grand Canyon of Texas" both for its size and for its dramatic geological features, including the multicolored layers of rock and steep mesa walls, which are similar to those in the Grand Canyon. It is part of Palo Duro Canyon State Park. The State Park had 442,242 visitors in 2022.
The Texas panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to the Oklahoma Panhandle, land which Texas previously claimed. The 1820 Missouri Compromise declared no slavery would be allowed in states admitted from the Louisiana Purchase above 36°30′ north latitude. Texas was annexed in 1845 from still more westerly land. The Compromise of 1850 removed territory north of this line from Texas, and set the border between the Texas Panhandle and the New Mexico Territory at the 103rd meridian west. The eastern border at the 100th meridian west was inherited from the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, which defined the border between the United States and New Spain. The Handbook of Texas defines the southern border of Swisher County as the southern boundary of the Texas Panhandle region.
The Llano Estacado, sometimes translated into English as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas. One of the largest mesas or tablelands on the North American continent, the elevation rises from 3,000 feet (900 m) in the southeast to over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in the northwest, sloping almost uniformly at about 10 feet per mile (2 m/km).
West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio.
Enchanted Rock is a pink granite mountain located in the Llano Uplift about 17 miles (27 km) north of Fredericksburg, Texas and 24 miles (39 km) south of Llano, Texas, United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, which includes Enchanted Rock and surrounding land, spans the border between Gillespie and Llano counties, south of the Llano River. Enchanted Rock covers roughly 640 acres (260 ha) and rises around 425 feet (130 m) above the surrounding terrain to an elevation of 1,825 feet (556 m) above sea level. It is the largest pink granite monadnock in the United States. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, a part of the Texas state park system, includes 1,644 acres (665 ha). In 1936, the area was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. In 1971, Enchanted Rock was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.
The Llano River is a tributary of the Colorado River, about 105 miles (169 km) long, in Texas in the United States. It drains part of the Edwards Plateau in Texas Hill Country northwest of Austin.
Franklin Mountains State Park is a state park in El Paso, Texas, United States. The park is named after the Franklin Mountains, a mountainous range that extends 23 mi (37 km) from El Paso to New Mexico. Its headquarters are located at an elevation of 5,426 feet (1,654 m) with the highest peak, North Franklin Mountain, reaching 7,192 feet (2,192 m). Covering 24,247.56 acres (9,813 ha), it is one of the largest urban parks in the U.S. lying completely within city limits. The park is open year-round for recreational activities such as hiking, mountain biking, picnicking, and scenic driving.
The term Cross Timbers, also known as Ecoregion 29, Central Oklahoma/Texas Plains, is used to describe a strip of land in the United States that runs from southeastern Kansas across Central Oklahoma to Central Texas. Made up of a mix of prairie, savanna, and woodland, it forms part of the boundary between the more heavily forested eastern country and the almost treeless Great Plains, and also marks the western habitat limit of many mammals and insects.
The geography of Texas is diverse and large. Occupying about 7% of the total water and land area of the U.S., it is the second largest state after Alaska, and is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which end in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. Texas is in the South Central United States of America, and is considered to form part of the U.S. South and also part of the U.S. Southwest.
Baby Head Cemetery is a cemetery located on Highway 16, approximately 9 miles north of the city of Llano, Texas. Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1991, Marker 9432. The sign reads as follows:
According to local oral tradition, the name Babyhead was given to the mountain in this area in the 1850s when a small child was killed by Native Americans in the United States, and its remains left on the mountain. A local creek also carried the name, and a pioneer community founded in the 1870s became known as Baby Head. The oldest documented grave here is that of another child, Jodie May McKneely, who died on New Year's Day 1884. The cemetery is the last physical reminder of the Baby Head community, which once had numerous farms, homes and businesses.
Granite Mountain is a solid dome, also known as a bornhardt, of pink granite rising over 860 feet one mile west of Marble Falls, Texas. Since quarry operations began in the late 19th century, the distinctive pink-red colored rock has been used in the construction of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, and also for the construction of the Galveston Seawall. In 1882, three businessmen and the owners of Granite Mountain, G. W. Lacy, N. L. Norton and W. H. Westfall, donated the amount of granite necessary to build the Texas State Capitol. The mountain no longer looks like a geographic feature because of the heavy mining, which has fully covered its surface. A similar but much larger area known as Enchanted Rock State Natural Area can be seen in its undisturbed state west of Marble Falls near Fredericksburg, Texas.
Named after the saddle-like appearance provided by twin peaks, Packsaddle Mountain is a landmark hill that stands five miles southwest of Kingsland, Texas in eastern Llano County on State Highway 71 and is of interest to both historians and geologists. In 1873 it was the site of the Packsaddle Mountain Fight, the last major Native American battle in the area. The mountain is now part of a large ranch called Packsaddle Ranch.
Cherry Spring is an unincorporated farming and ranching community established in 1852 in Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located on Cherry Spring Creek, which runs from north of Fredericksburg to Llano. The creek was also sometimes known as Cherry Springs Creek by residents. The community is located on the old Pinta Trail. The Cherry Spring School was added to the National Register of Historic Places Listings in Gillespie County, Texas on May 6, 2005. The school was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1985.
Heckville is an unincorporated community located on the high plains of the Llano Estacado, approximately 16 mi (26 km) northeast of Lubbock or 7 mi (11 km) north of Idalou in northeastern Lubbock County, Texas, United States. This small town was named after Henry Heck, who built a cotton gin to serve the community in 1948.
