Fort Davis NHS Landscape: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Fort Davis National Historic Site, National Park Service

Meyers, David; Foster, Lance; Kowalski, Judy

Fort Davis is located in the rugged but majestic Davis Mountains in the area of west Texas known as the Trans-Pecos, situated between the Pecos River and the Rio Grande. The Fort Davis National Historic Site cultural landscape is defined by the boundaries of the Fort Davis National Historic Site. Primary emphasis on the site’s interpretation has been on the period during which the site was used as a U.S. military fort, although the landscape also contains evidence of earlier use by Native American peoples as well as post-fort use by the local community. Fort Davis attained historical significance as a U.S. Army post from 1854 to 1891, established to protect the transcontinental road which passed through west Texas on its way to California and the surrounding frontier from Apache, Comanche, and Kiowa incursions. The most noticeable patterns in the landscape of Fort Davis are the remnants of the historic fort buildings and associated fort roads and earthworks. The site is one of the most intact surviving examples of a latter 19th century military complex in the U.S. Southwest (Myers, p. 6). Fort Davis demonstrates the planning policies and design of forts during this time period, as well as the adaptation of these policies to local environment as evident in spatial arrangement, irrigation and drainage systems, and building material. The site represents conflicts between the United States government and Native Americans with the push towards the settlement on the western frontier. It also holds social value as a place where African-American troops exercised new freedoms following the Civil War. The significance extends beyond the period of the fort, as the land had been used prior to Euro-American settlement, and again in recent years after military use ceased. With the combined influences of newly-acquired southwestern territory following the Mexican War in 1848 and the California Gold Rush, the U.S. Government began to develop an overland route to the Pacific. The first Fort Davis (1854-1962) was primarily temporary construction, created as a frontier defense. Cultural remnants from the first fort period consist of building footprints and traces of the original San Antonio El Paso Road. The structural outlines are demarcated either by original stone foundations, modern amended adobes, or vertical wooden stakes. These remains provide a partial indication of the spatial arrangement of the fort during the period, and their location reflects the original decision in 1854 to place the fort within the canyon for the protection that it afforded from harsh winter winds. The fort was abandoned when Texas voted to join the Confederacy during the Civil War. Cultural remains that exist from the second fort period (1867-1891) include some largely intact structures, traces of roads and paths, remnants of irrigation and flood control ditches and berms, and evidence of former water supply features, such as wells, a spring, and pipeline routes. Evidence of various types of land use also exists, including a cemetery, trash scatter, and a garden. The army left the fort in 1891 due to decline in the Native American altercations, the distance from the railroad, and the uncertainty of the water supply. The site continued to be used by civilians for entertainment and commemoration, officially becoming the Fort Davis National Historic Site in 1961. Under National Park Service management, restoration has occurred in an effort to restore the landscape to its historic appearance. Because the character of the landscape has changed little, the site retains integrity in aspects of location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.

Fort Davis NHS Landscape: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Fort Davis National Historic Site, National Park Service

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