Like many of Marfa’s original adobe structures, Highland Adobe and the land surrounding it have a long and storied history. The landscape here tells the story of resilience both ecologically and anthropologically. Towards the end of the Ice Age, this region had a much wetter, cooler climate and the surrounding hillsides were densely forested. After the last glacial episode, woodlands gave way to evolved plant communities in the new arid desert environment.
This changing climate caused a massive decline in the number of bison that once grazed throughout the Big Beng region, and the Indigenous communities who have been recorded living in this region since 15,000 years ago also adapted by developing a hunting and gathering lifestyle that remained for 7,500 years. The Big Bend region is the landscape of the Chisos, the Mescalero Apache, and Jumano Nations.
Many people falsely believe that deserts represent the idea of nothingness, but the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem is one of the of the three most biologically diverse deserts in the entire world, with over a thousand species of plants and animals that have adapted over thousands and thousands of years to thrive here and only here. While exploring the Big Bend region today, we are participating in history that goes back thousands and thousands of years. Having a deeper understanding of pre-existing cultures, ecology, and history is important to broadening our experiences while working to support the ongoing health of the ecosystem in this beautiful place.
In 1883, a town was established as a railroad water stop for multiple Texas railways. It’s said that the wife of a railroad executive suggested they name the town Marfa after a character in Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, which she was reading at the time. The name stuck. Because of its importance as a railroad stop, Marfa’s population continued to flourish into the 1930’s and during WWII, an advanced flight-training base was built ten miles east of the town.
