Presidio County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 6,131. Its county seat is Marfa. The county was created in 1850 and later organized in 1875. Presidio County is in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas and is named for the border settlement of Presidio del Norte. It is on the Rio Grande, which forms the Mexican border.
Alpine is a city in and the county seat of Brewster County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,035 at the 2020 census. The town has an elevation of 4,462 feet (1,360 m), and the surrounding mountain peaks are over 1 mile (1.6 km) above sea level. A university, hospital, library, and retail make Alpine the center of the sprawling 12,000 square miles (3,108,000 ha) but wide open Big Bend area including Brewster, Presidio, and Jeff Davis counties.
Goliad is a city and the county seat of Goliad County, Texas, United States. It is known for the 1836 Goliad massacre during the Texas Revolution. It had a population of 1,620 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Victoria, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Marfa is a city in the high desert of the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas, United States, between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park, at an elevation of 4685 feet. It is the county seat of Presidio County, and its population as of the 2020 United States Census was 1,788. The city was founded in the early 1880s as a water stop; the population peaked in the 1930s and has continued to decline each decade since. However, today Marfa is a tourist destination and a major center for minimalist art. Attractions include Building 98, the Chinati Foundation, artisan shops, historical architecture, a classic Texas town square, modern art installments, art galleries, and the Marfa lights.
Presidio is a city in Presidio County, Texas, United States. It is situated on the Rio Grande River, on the opposite side of the U.S.–Mexico border from Ojinaga, Chihuahua. The name originates from Spanish and means "fortress". The population was 3,264 at the 2020 census.
The Big Bend is part of the Trans-Pecos region in southwestern Texas, United States along the border with Mexico, north of the prominent bend in the Rio Grande for which the region is named. Here the Rio Grande passes between the Chisos Mountains in Texas and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico as it changes from running east-southeast to north-northeast. The region covers three counties: Presidio County to the west, Brewster County to the east, and Jeff Davis County to the north.
The Marfa lights, also known as the Marfa ghost lights, have been observed near U.S. Route 67 on Mitchell Flat east of Marfa, Texas, in the United States. They have gained some fame as onlookers have attributed them to paranormal phenomena such as ghosts, UFOs, or will-o'-the-wisp. Scientific research suggests that most, if not all, are atmospheric reflections, automobile headlights or campfires.
The Chisos Mountains, also known as the Chisos, are a mountain range located in the Big Bend area of the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, United States. The mountain system covers 40 square miles and is contained entirely within the boundaries of Big Bend National Park, making it the only mountain range in the United States fully contained within a national park. The Chisos Mountains are the southernmost mountain range in the mainland United States.
The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati is a contemporary art museum located in Marfa, Texas, and based upon the ideas of its founder, artist Donald Judd.
Shafter is a ghost town in Presidio County, Texas, United States. The Texas Attorney General's Office listed a population of 11 as of the 2000 Census. It was named in honor of General William R. Shafter, who at one point commanded the nearby Fort Davis. As of 2012, at least one silver mine, La Mina Grande, had been reopened by Aurcana Corporation.
Candelaria is an unincorporated community in Presidio County, Texas, United States, with approximately 75 inhabitants.
Ruidosa is an unincorporated desert village in Presidio County, Texas, United States. Although called a ghost town by some sources, there were 43 inhabitants as of 2000 and a small store.
The Chinati Mountains of Texas are a small range in the high desert of far West Texas near the city of Presidio. There is a pass through the mountains on Ranch to Market Road 2810, also known as Pinto Canyon Road, which connects to Farm to Market Road 170 at Ruidosa, Texas. Some believe the range derives its name from the Apache word ch'íná'itíh, which means gate or mountain pass.
Adobes was a small farming community and now a ghost town, located on the Rio Grande and Farm to Market Road 170 in Presidio County, Texas, United States. It was founded in the 1870s. Cotton began to be grown in the area in 1914, and by 1930 the community had 750 acres (300 ha) of irrigated land.
Cibolo Creek Ranch is a historic place in Presidio County, Texas, United States. Established as a cattle ranch prior to the Civil War, it has been used in modern times for hunting and a shooting location for the movie industry. It includes a fort called El Fortin del Cibolo which has been renovated as a luxury hotel featuring watchtowers and three-foot-thick adobe walls.
Porvenir is a ghost town in Presidio County, Texas, United States.
Chinati Hot Springs, also known as Ruidosa Hot Springs and Kingston Hot Springs, are volcanic thermal springs and historical oasis located north of Ruidosa, Texas in the Big Bend region of the Chihuahuan Desert, near the town of Presidio.
The Trans-Pecos Volcanic Field is a volcanic field located in western Texas in the counties of Brewster, Jeff Davis, Presidio, and extends into northern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila. It is the southernmost volcanic field to be documented and recorded in the continental United States. The field started volcanic activity around 48 million years ago in the middle Eocene epoch, and ended around 17 million years later in the Miocene epoch.
San Vicente was a village located in Brewster County, Texas, United States, within the protruding big bend of the Rio Grande. The village was geographically 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of the San Vicente Crossing in present-day Big Bend National Park. The uninhabited site provides a panoramic view of the Chisos Mountains and the Sierra San Vicente migrating into Northern Mexico.
Pilares was a village located in northwest Presidio County, Texas, United States, on the southern boundary of the Sierra Vieja near the Rio Grande. The river village was 1.25 miles (2.01 km) south of the confluence of Quinn Creek and the Rio Grande while bearing 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Porvenir, Texas. The uninhabited site is in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas with a southern panorama of the Chihuahuan Desert and northern Mexico.
