Pinery Station - Pine Springs TX - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

From the National Park Service website:

The Pinery-Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail, Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Visit the ruins of the Pinery Station and get a sense of the isolation and rugged beauty that travelers experienced here in 1858. The old stone walls stand today as a testament to the spirit of change that early travelers, station keepers, and stage drivers carried as they passed this way over a century and a half ago.

The Pinery Trail
Travel the short 0.75 mile path from the Pine Springs Visitor Center to the ruins of the old Pinery Station, once a favored stop on the original 2,800 mile Butterfield Overland Mail Route. The trail is paved, rated easy, and wheelchair accessible. Pets are allowed on leash.

Preservation of the Ruins
The ruin is fragile; climbing on the walls can destroy this piece of history. It is preserved by the National Park Service as a window to the past, in the relatively unchanged, rugged setting that stage riders and Mescalero Apaches saw more than one hundred years ago. With the help of careful visitors to protect it, this historic location will continue to reflect the spirit of courage and adventure which commanded the senses of long-ago travelers, and still stirs in those who ride this route today.

On the Butterfield Trail
“In the bright moonlight, we could see the Guadalupe Mountains, sixty miles distant on the other side of the river, standing out in bold relief against the clear sky, like the walls of some ancient fortress covered with towers and embattlements.” Waterman L Ormsby, the only through passenger on the first westbound stage of the Butterfield Overland Mail, wrote these words in September of 1858 as he approached the Guadalupe Mountains. Upon arriving at the Pinery Station at Guadalupe Pass he wrote; “it seems as if nature had saved all her ruggedness to pile it up in this form of the Guadalupe Peak.”

(visit link)

Street address: 400 Pine Canyon Road Visitor Center, Guadalupe Mountains National Park Salt Flat, TX United States 79847 County / Borough / Parish: Culberson County Year listed: 1974 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Communications Periods of significance: 1850-1874 Historic function: Ruins Current function: Ruins Privately owned?: no Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   10/20/2023 Don.Morfe visited it