Big Bend National Park, Day Two: Hot Springs Historic District

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After checking out the RV and camping sites at Rio Grande Village (and getting a well-deserved ice cream sandwich at the camp store), I decided to call it quits and head back to the Chisos Mountains Lodge. On the way, however, I saw a sign for the Hot Springs Historic District so I decided to take a detour to check it out. The road to the Historic District is unpaved and is very narrow in parts, but thankfully I made to the Historic District with the car and myself in one piece.

In 1909, homesteader J.O. Langford arrived from Mississippi, stricken with recurring malaria and spending his last pennies seeking health and fortune. Long before the establishment of Big Bend National Park, Langford developed the area into a rustic riverside resort so that others could experience the hot springs that he claimed had healed him. There was a motel, a post office, a store, and a two-story bathhouse over the hot springs. The bathhouse is no longer there but the foundation still remains.

All in all, I'm glad I took the detour.
The foundation of the resort's bathhouse for the hot springs
Hot Springs post office and store
The Hot Springs resort's motor court from the 1920's


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