Fort Davis, an emerald in a crown of getaway gems

December 14, 2006
By Bill Sontag
Feature Writer

I also had the honor of being thrown out of Fort Davis, a U.S. National Park and perhaps the best restored of the Texas forts. Alas, I never saw it.
--- James Michener, in Texas, 1985

If James Michener and his cantankerous helicopter pilot/rancher had not landed in the middle of Fort Davis National Historic Site when it teemed with visitors, Superintendent Bill Gwaltney might have given the prolific author a tour he would never forget.

The parade ground of Fort Davis National Historic Site overlooks Officers’ Row, a line of stone block homes occupied by the corps of officers, seen here from the Enlisted Men’s Barracks. During the fort’s occupation by U.S. Army Cavalry units, the end of the day was marked with “Retreat” ceremonies, including inspections, roll calls, and bugle calls signaling “Assembly,” “Adjutant’s Call,” “Retreat,” and “To the Colors.” The calls still ring out across the parade grounds so park visitors can hear what to many are familiar tunes. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag)

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National Park Ranger Albert Garcia provides information to a park visitor just before closing both the visitor center building and bookstore in a remodeled Enlisted Men’s Barracks and the front gate of the park which closes at 5 p.m. Garcia told LIVE! the historic site would be closed only on Christmas and New Year’s Day. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

But this popular unit of the national park system is small, often congested, so an unannounced chopper descent triggered Gwaltney’s ire, followed by his offer to personally transport Michener from adjacent private land to see the remarkable collection of century-old barracks, officers quarters, museum objects and exhibits. The offer was spurned.

But thousands of humble visitors come to Fort Davis, on the north end of the town by the same name, each year in cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles to see and hear about frontier military life in the span of the fort’s existence, 1854-1891. The park is a thrilling work-in-progress of historic preservation, research, discovery, stabilization, and more preservation.

Fort Davis interpreters of history, living history volunteers, activity demonstrators, and “front desk” rangers augment the park’s static displays and restored buildings to give visitors a glimpse of the fort’s importance on the wild, at times unruly landscape of Texas. When chasing Apache, Comanche and Kiowa Indians played out of importance, troopers escorted road development, telegraph, and survey teams.

Now, exhibits and a bookstore of carefully selected publications and souvenir items allow Fort Davis visitors to taste the rustic flavor of frontier Texas, before they retire to lodgings, restaurants, galleries, gift shops and an ice cream parlor in the nearby town by the same name.

Historic Hotel Limpia, 101 Memorial Square, Fort Davis, Texas, offers quiet rooms with historic furnishings and real hospitality about four hours from Del Rio. Nearby are the scenic Davis Mountains, the state park by the same name, the Fort Davis National Historic Site, and the McDonald Observatory, affording day-trip excursion choices with the town as a pivot point. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Fort Davis was sited, in part, for its ample supply of fresh clean water in Limpia Creek. Indeed, the name – translated from Spanish – means “clean” or “pure,” and it’s been borrowed there for everything from a local hat-maker to a historic hotel.

Donna Adams is general manager of the finely restored 1912 Hotel Limpia, a splendid, two-story structure facing the town square and Jeff Davis County Courthouse. “We have 44 rooms here, and nine buildings off the site for our guests,” Adams explained Nov. 26. The hotel oozes an atmosphere of comfort and retreat from whatever harsh landscape or climate in which travelers may have spent the day.

The hotel’s lobby and solarium front porch are furnished with overstuffed chairs and couches, often populated by relaxing, snoozing, reading or quietly chatting guests. Limpia rooms are pictures of antique and not-so-antique period furniture, floral fabrics, more overstuffed furniture, and studied hospitality.

In addition, the Limpia property boasts a fine dining room, a gift shop and a respectable bookstore, all added as part of restoration efforts. The Hotel Limpia, operating for 94 consecutive years, was interrupted only briefly for recovery from a 1950s fire, according to Adams.

The wide porch of one of four Enlisted Men's Barracks buildings at Fort Davis provide visitors an inviting look at Sleeping Lion Mountain, a fine vantage point (with a little rock scrambling) from which to view and photograph the entire fort. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

The Hotel Limpia Gift Shop is loaded now with gift and stocking-stuffer possibilities for the upcoming holiday season. The shop’s normal inventory includes artistic glassware, ceramics, oils and lotions, baskets and casual apparel. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Visitors looking for accommodations in Fort Davis between Christmas 2006 and New Years may be challenged by those with long-held reservations, but before and after the holidays, the town is a respite worth investigating. Joe and Lanna Duncan, Fort Davis residents, own both the Hotel Limpia and the Hotel Paisano in Marfa, and have recently purchased and are restoring the Stone Village Motel in Fort Davis.

Holiday celebrations are few in Fort Davis. Park Ranger Albert Garcia said that no events are planned at the national historic site, and the park will be closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

But Adams said that the Sutler’s Club, upstairs from the Limpia dining room, will feature a New Year’s Eve celebration for all who choose to attend. A similar celebration is planned at the Hotel Paisano in Marfa, as well.

Fort Davis is 231 miles northwest of Del Rio, following U.S. Highway 90 west to Alpine, then the scenic Highway 118 from Alpine to Fort Davis. For more information about Fort Davis National Historic Site, see www.nps.gov/foda , and to learn more about Hotel Limpia, go to www.hotellimpia.com .