I have drove by this place for years going to and from the lease but never stopped to see what it was all about. Well that all changed this past week when me and my dad decided to stop in since we had already killed our deer in bow season. I must say I am sorry we didn’t stop in much sooner than now. This place just simply cant be described in words!! You don’t even have to be a history nut to appreciate the historical value of this place. And if old guns are your thing then you will be in heaven!! I think there were over 300 old rifles in the mega vault! Indian stuff???? ……..yep they got PLENTY of that too! In all I think they have discovered around 500K artifacts on the place including everything from buttons to guns.

Our visit took place on a Thursday morning and we were the only people there. I wasn’t expecting much at all but boy was I surprised. We walked in and were greeted by a giant cannon and a nice lady asking us if we had ever been there before. After a short talk she asked us if we wanted to watch a short video about the place in the theater before we looked around and we said sure. After the video explaining the history of the place we proceeded into the museum part of the property. All the rifles, pistols, swords, arrow heads, stage coaches, etc, etc, etc, were amazing!!! There was no way we had time to read about each item in there so I just mostly looked and read about a few of the more interesting items. After that we went out back to were the actual fort is located. The lady asked us if we would like to go inside the buildings as we looked around and of course we weren’t going to turn that down. So she set us up with one of the guys that helped restore a lot of the place and we all hopped into the Kabota side by side for a personal tour of the place with someone who knew the history of the place like the back of his hand. After the tour he also took us over to see their Buffalo on another part of the property. Less than 10 yards from one of those beasts is something I will never forget!! After that we went back to the headquarters and were lucky enough to meet and talk with the owner of the property. This guy has put his heart and soul into restoring this place and after talking to him you can tell it means the world to him to preserve this history for generations to come. The amazing thing about the place is that it is all still privately owned and has been in the same family for 8-9 generations now.

I cant even begin to tell yall all about the place and there aint enough room on this forum for all the pics I took. All I can say is you just have to see it for yourself and hear all the stories to. It is a non-profit operation so there is no cost to enter however donations are greatly appreciated. These people have really gone the extra mile to preserve this piece of Texas and U.S. history and the fact that they are willing to share it with anyone that will show up shows you just what kind of people they are. What I thought was going to be a 1 hour walk around type of thing turned out to be a 3.5 hour personal tour of the place. So yall stop by and check it out next time yall are out west. I know I will be going back soon to look at everything in more detail.


This is the Officers Quarters. This is my favorite building on the whole place. This was the site of a really interesting shootout with a Indian that had barricaded himself inside. The bullet holes can still be seen in the walls along with many names that are ingraved there. I think he said Robert E Lee himself had spent a few nights here.



This is the same building. I think he said “Red Horse” was a Indian Scout.


This is the Hospital. I think this was the first building built on the fort site.


The barracks.


Some of the guns in the mega vault.





Old funeral hearse.

Few other pics.




Tatonka! Yes I was outside the safety of the Kabota for this pic but it was within arms reach just in case.

Great pictures, it has been years since we have stopped there, I guess it is time for another stop.

Great read Justin. Thanks for sharing

Definately going to check it out!

Man, I want a Tatonka for my freezer. Love me some bison. Guess it's my little bit of Apache blood.

Looks like a near place with a lot of history. I need to check it out one day.

Nice place

Very cool

Thanks for sharing. A few years back they did a dig there and a lot of restoration work, looks nice.

Brownwood - PM sent on the Tatonka hunt.

So were all those guns found at this fort?

Thanks

No. In fact most of them were not found there. They are just guns of that period and many of them have some real historical importance. Some of them are extremely rare variations that you will probably never see anywhere else. And a few of those guns are valued in the 6 figures.

Cool photos.

Great pics.

Great pictures. I love visiting historic forts and museums myself.

Awesome, I also pass it going to the lease and have wanted to stop. I will this season.