Frijole Ranch
The Frijole Ranch area has been a popular destination for centuries, due to its close proximity to five major streams.
Plan Around Frijole Ranch
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Frijole Ranch Details
The Frijole Ranch area has been a popular destination for centuries, due to its close proximity to five major streams. The first dwelling on the Frijole Ranch site was built by the Rader brothers, who ran a small cattle ranch for a few years before Mayor Calvin Herring took over the property in the late 1800s (the Rader brothers never owned a deed to the land). Herring, his daughter Ida and her husband George Wolcott lived here for several years before Wolcott moved the family to Midland Texas in 1895, where the ranching prospects were better. Enter John Smith, who moved to the area in 1906 with his wife Nella May Carr and their ten children. The Smiths were farmers, growing apples, peaches, apricots, figs, pecans, plums, pears, strawberries, currants and corn. They made a living by trucking their produce to the nearby town of Van Horn several times a month. The Smiths also built a schoolhouse on the property, which they used to educate not only their children, but also the children of many of the neighboring ranch families. The Smith home quickly became something of a community center-- it was even the official regional post office for twenty years, until 1941. In the 1940s, J.C. Hunter bought the Frijole Ranch to add to his growing chunk of ranching property in the Guadalupe Mountains. For years Hunter had been trying to turn the land into a national park. Finally, in 1945 his son Junior inherited the land and in 1966 Junior sold it to the national government. Today you can drive or hike to the Frijole Ranch, located just northeast of the park headquarters along an access road off of Highway 180/62. You can also walk to the ranch just a few miles from the Park Headquarters Pine Springs area. The old ranch house has been converted into a museum about the cultural history of the region (free with your park entrance ticket). There are also several hiking trails that start from the ranch.
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Nearby Parks Around Frijole Ranch
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Nearby Points of Interest Around Frijole Ranch
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0.0 mi away
Smith Spring Trail
This trail travels through the desert landscape, passing by Smith Spring and Manzanita Spring.
0.0 mi away
Manzanita Spring
Take the short 0.2-mile paved path behind the ranch house in order to see Manzanita Spring.
0.1 mi away
Frijole/Foothills Trail
These trails form a loop between the Pine Springs Campground and the Frijole Ranch
0.8 mi away
Smith Spring
Smith Spring serves as a watering hole for park wildlife
1.3 mi away
Pinery Butterfield Stage Station Ruins
In the mid 1800s, the Butterfield Overland Mail Company became the first railway to transport mail from the east coast to the west coast over the land
