And everyone carried guns back then, but they knew to check them with me at the door or Id lose my beer license. Ivey shakes his head as he realizes that this wasnt that long ago. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. Im a sports expert and lover. I hear once a week or more, from people I dont even know, who tell me how much the trading post meant to them and how sad they are that its gone, he said. Dallas, Texas 75201. By the early 80s, Lajitas on the Rio Grande had a 9 hole golf course, two lodging units, several condos, and was a local center of economic activity in Brewster County. Though a biblical rainstorm and lightning display in the night knocked out the resorts electricity for twelve hoursa common desert occurrence that, among other things, might incapacitate an alarm clock and cause one to miss an early tee timehe was still able to get on the course because no one else was playing that day. [2][3][4][6] He has been the co-chairman and co-CEO of Energy Transfer Partners since 2007. The omicron variant has arrived in the U.S. as Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers is blocked by a federal judge. A variety of guided outdoor activities are available. Now", "Castles in the ire: the minted moguls snapping up Ireland's stately homes", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kelcy_Warren&oldid=1135081936, This page was last edited on 22 January 2023, at 14:53. the rich never came in large numbers. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. The population of Lajitas plummeted to only four when Terlingua's quicksilver mines closed. Black Jack's Crossing at Lajitas Golf Resort may be Texas' most And at that point, reconciling the deserts harshness and beauty is your problem. Mr. Warren, a Levis-jeans-and-cowboy-boot-wearing Texan from Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. In 1916 the interruption of commerce by civil unrest in Mexico, and isolated bandit raids into the US brought Gen. John J. Pershings troops to Lajitas, where they established a small cavalry post to monitor this critical river crossing. You cannot mess with that country. Upward of thirty people would gatherMexican workers, snowbirds from the RV park, boatmen and floaters just back from a river trip, and college kids whod stopped in to feed cervezas to Mayor Clay Henry, the towns famous beer-drinking goat. Dennis smiled and said something that hinted roughly at the wonders of clean canvases, bottomless toolboxes, and endless lumber supplies, and then excused himself to go to the restroom. empty and spiritual. But it also served as a gathering place for the areas whites, Mexicans, and Indians, none of whom batted an eye at the towns other prominent, permanent resident, an old man who refused to wear anything more than his underwear, in which he would daily pan for gold in the Rio Grande. For the 23 years prior to that, Lajitas had been the property of Houston business giant Walter Mischer, whod turned it into a modest resort with an Old West boardwalk, a nine-hole golf course, ninety cheap hotel rooms, and an RV park for winter Texans, all of it anchored by a 65-year-old ramshackle adobe trading post so vital to the regions commerce and society that some called it the Courthouse of South County. Every facet of life in that trading post was filled with spirit, Ivey said. would have millionaires mixing with landscape workers and artists and Lajitas Golf Resort, Terlingua - Updated 2023 Prices - Booking.com In the late 1890s quicksilver was discovered near Terlingua, eleven miles from Lajitas, and a rapid influx of people followed. After dinner some of our group went back to the resort, but my tour guide on the trip, the Lajitas general manager whod been assigned to babysit me, wanted a nightcap. The community boomed when quicksilver was discovered 11 miles from the community at the end of the decade. The ultimate fate of Lajitas wont be decided by any new owner. The general rides near the Texas-Mexico border. Yes the resort offers weddings and other special events. He received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1978.[8][3][6]. Born in Gladewater, Texas, Warren grew up in White Oak, Texas, the youngest of four sons of Hugh Brinson Warren and Bertie Lee Kirby. I only had two rules: no fighting and no spitting, at least not in the store. [13], The TV miniseries, Streets of Laredo was also filmed in Lajitas. A motel stood on the same land in the 1980s. The vision on the porch was of rooms priced at $150 a night and an RV park that is open to snowbirds, that will tolerate the occasional rattletrap trailer. But the true injustice came with my breakfast: $33 for coffee, a small bowl of granola, some strawberries, concentrated orange juice, and a cute little box of Special K, like the kind my mom used to provide before she trusted me to pour from the big-boy box. in the spare beauty of borderlands. [1] It was inhabited by aboriginal Mexicans for many years. Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa in Terlingua - Orbitz was Mr. Warren's first The Lajitas Museum, which contained artifacts from the Big Bend area, was located just east of Lajitas. "In fact, I'd be shocked if there When he decided to sell, Smith, a 54-year-old Austin-based telecommunications tycoon, showed up unannounced and unknown, stepping out of his helicopter just before the auction began to buy Lajitas on a whim for $4.25 million. Always found it to be poorly maintained, with poor food service. The deal was complete, except for a few papers that remained to be At first blush, its almost impossible to tell the age of a resident of south Brewster County, and there are two good reasons for that. Nine of the 92 rooms were full, not including Mr. Warren's Lajitas, he hopes, may have another life yet. Admittedly the place was in bankruptcy, but it was still open and promising no drop in service. The high bid at days end was $13.5 million, but the bidder, who wished to remain anonymous, hadnt offered enough money to pay all the creditors, and no deal was reached. The town hadnt changed a whit when he got out of college and took a job with new owner Mischer in 1977, except for the recent introduction of electricity and a regular telephone line. Lajitas General Store and Deli Thirsty Goat Saloon Pizza Menu Thirsty Goat Menu To make dinner reservations in The Candelilla restaurant, call 432-424-5032 Candelilla Cafe Offering an Interesting Twist on Traditional Tex Mex Cuisine Candelilla Caf Hours of Operation 7 am - 10 pm Daily Yes there are several natural hot springs located on the resort property. The original Lajitas church and cemetery are still in town and are among the best places to visit in Lajitas. Locals speculated that he was struggling financially, and the monthly Big Bend Gazette reported that Lajitas was not the only Smith-related enterprise to recently declare bankruptcy. The resort features our world class 18 hole golf course, Lajitas Texas Golf. state parks, Lajitas has long been one of the stranger outposts of the If you make a purchase through one of these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 5 Texas-Sized Golf Trips Worth Dreaming Over | Houstonia Magazine [14], Warren has hosted the Cherokee Music Festival since it began in 2007. Lajitas has a hot arid climate with very hot summers and mild winters. Can College Sports Get More Absurd Than SMU Joining the Pac-12? money and support her songwriting. Warren is chief executive officer and chairman of Energy Transfer Partners. "She certainly has the coolest house," he said. Seven or eight hours in a car gives you a sense of how far this is from civilization. Dallas Robert E. Lee statue has a new home. Double check when in the area for the correct local time when visiting. Black Jack's Crossing City documents identified Holmes, but he hadnt hinted at what hed do with his new hunk of Alexander Phimister Proctor-made metal. When I bought the Ghost Town, I wanted to make it a place you needed to go to if you were in Big Bend. But the desert has always had a way of withering material models. Lajitas, Texas: A Big Bend Country Ghost Town (Turned Resort) Built in 1912, it was just a beaten-up, dirt-floor adobe, with a front porch constructed of railroad ties and rails drug from Terlinguas languishing quicksilver mines, and shade provided from a willow-leaf awning held in place by goat-pen wire. Pamplin and his partners invested $25 million to expand the resort adding a new hotel and increasing the number of golf holes from 9 to 18. I was writing a story that would run in the May 2002 issue of Texas Monthly on Smiths vision for Lajitas: the creation of a world-class, five-star golf resort and an exclusive development for multimillion-dollar vacation homes. Lajitas Resort: Why you better go now | Columns | elpasoinc.com Dallas sold the statue for $1.4 million in June after the City Council decided to auction it off. A Skaggs also became successful in a candelilla wax business, the Lajitas Wax Company. Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa, A 4-star hotel in Lajitas, Texas Theres a light in peoples eyes in far West Texas, a joy that comes with living exactly where and how a person wants. That determination will be made by the desert. Some links throughout this site are affiliate links. Soon, they sat in an outdoor living room by the outdoor Had he really sprayed a compound on the ground in front of the Lajitas boardwalk that would keep dust from kicking up? But he also waves his cowboy hat over his head and yells yeehaw like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove whenever he flies it into the Trans-Pecos. Rumors from the summer started to resurface. The first white settlers came to the area in the mid-1800s. Lajitas Golf Resort is an unexpected and fascinating oasis in the middle of the vast desert that makes up much of Big Bend Countryand today, Lajitas Golf Resort is nearly simultaneous with the town of Lajitas, TX. Bill grew up in that Lajitas, in the late fifties and sixties, attending school in Alpine but spending his weekends, holidays, and summers down by the river. Suite 2100 . Good, 21701 FM 170 Lajitas, Texas 79852 Local Lajitas, TX STD Testing Centers and CBC, Lipid, Hepatitis, Liver, Hemoglobin A1C, Hormone, Same Day Service, No Doctors Visit/No Insurance Required, All Wellness/Health Testing. Your News. Carmichael, California, United States. We also offer our 5 Stand Sporting Clay Shoot, Cowboy Action shoot, Equestrian Center for family horseback rides, and many other Warren's gift was the largest, giving him naming rights. "Lajitas" translates to "little flat rocks" in Spanish. signed. The resort is currently owned by a group of investors led by Bob McNair. associates and friends who include former Dallas Cowboys Charlie Waters [2][3] He serves on the advisory board of his alma mater, the University of Texas at Arlington. To support Lajitas Vision of being recognized by our customers as the "Friendliest Resort in Texas!" You should champion this culture in every touch point of our business from our associates, guests, owners, and communities. There was, in fact, a large contingent of resort employees in La Kiva that night, all of them transplants from around the United States but for one young woman who had grown up in the area. [17], The Kelcy Warren Foundation supports the Caddo Lake Institution, an organization with the mission of protecting the ecological, cultural and economic integrity of Caddo Lake and its associated wetlands and watershed. retreat, an offense to the desert and a leading hotel of the world. Black Jack's Crossing at Lajitas Golf Resort. But there was insight to be gleaned in the law firms lobby. Its a small section of the population that gets it out here, she said. With the border now closed, the trading post will never return to its Ivey-era glory. Ever since I retired, I decided to put up this blog alongside the best brains among my old student to uphold the sporting spirit in us. The Lajitas Golf Resort is a full-service golf resort and spa located in the Big Bend region of West Texas. His state-of-the-art gray water filtration system created a wetlands area on the golf course that, along with a 64-acre sanctuary on the river, brought birds to the region not commonly found in the desert. he wants to put it more in touch with surrounding Brewster County, with Ms. Ryan told Mr. Warren she remembers years ago when the bar She also had no way of knowing about the rest of the nights events. reprints, email [emailprotected], call 800-374-7985 or in denim with a pink bandana around her neck and gray hair loosely Farming along the narrow floodplain of the river served to bring in more families, and by 1912 the town had a store, a saloon, a school with fifty pupils, and a customhouse. It is named for his son. It is located on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande at San Carlos ford of the old Comanche Trail, in the northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert in southwestern Brewster County. Lajitas Golf Resort 1,061 reviews #1 of 1 resort in Lajitas Review Save Share 21701 FM 170, Lajitas, Big Bend National Park, TX 79852-5015 1 (877) 525-4827 Visit hotel website E-mail hotel Check In / / Check Out / / Guests Contact accommodation for availability. The resort was originally owned by oilman and entrepreneur Clayton Williams Jr. Williams purchased the property in 1983 and developed it into a golf resort. Unable to find her, Mr. Warren wandered about with a look of The 11th Bomb Squadron operated from Marfa Field along the Rio Grande to El Paso.[14]. He married Amy Hudson on June 3, 2010, in Dallas. The store and saloon were operated by H.W. Please be sure to check back frequently as this journey continues. The gas pumps were gone, as were the willow leaves and goat-pen wire. Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa 100 Main St, Terlingua, TX 8.2 Very Good 608 reviews How we verify reviews 10 - Excellent 273 8 - Good 206 6 - Okay 78 4 - Poor 39 2 - Terrible 12 8.7/10 Cleanliness 8.6/10 Staff & service 8.0/10 Amenities 8.0/10 Property conditions & facilities 8.2/10 Eco-friendliness 8/10 Good Christopher Jan 5, 2023 Projects were undertaken with designs drawn over lunch on place mats. The old church in the community was restored, and the community grew to have three motels, a hotel, a restaurant, a golf course, a swimming pool, an RV park, and an airstrip. 21701 FM 170, Lajitas, Big Bend National Park, TX 79852-5015. multi-million-dollar wire transfer for the property was in order, Mr. The contraband would be returned at a reception when they arrived. Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. Who Owns Lajitas Golf Resort by Joshua|Published August 25, 2019 The Lajitas Golf Resort is a full-service golf resort and spa located in the Big Bend region of West Texas. Lajitas is mentioned extensively in Red Dirt/Texas Country artist Wade Bowen's song "Day of the Dead" recorded in October 2017. [2][3][4] He also serves as member of the management council of ETP Enogex Partners LLC, co-CEO of ETC OLP, co-CEO and co-chairman of La Grange Energy and of US Propane LLC. Lajitas Golf Resort 94 reviews Claimed $$$ Hotels, Golf, Day Spas Edit Open Open 24 hours See hours See all 236 photos Write a review Add photo Location & Hours 21701 Fm 170 Lajitas, TX 79852 Get directions Edit business info Amenities and More By Appointment Only Accepts Credit Cards Good For Kids Private Lot Parking 2 More Attributes [11] The Robert E. Lee on Traveller statue is on display at the resort. On the Wide Plains West of Lubbock, a Chainsaw Carver Works From an Old Cotton Gin, Texas Lege Watch: A House Republican Fights for Chicken Freedom, Family Memories Echo Through an East Texas Shoe Shop, Texas Monthly Recognized by ASME in the 2023 National Magazine Awards, Our Guide to Johnson City, Where You Can Stroll to Wineries and Museums. and were blown away by the immense beauty of the course. Its previous owner, Austin multimillionaire Steve Smith, See pricing and listing details of Lajitas real estate for sale. LAJITAS GOLF RESORT - 236 Photos & 94 Reviews - Yelp Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. McNairs group has invested millions of dollars into the resort making it one of the most luxurious and exclusive golf resorts in the world.