Jeff Davis County

Jeff Davis County covers 2,258 square miles, from 3,800 feet to 8,378 at the top of Mount Livermore, the fifth-highest point in Texas, and its westernmost tip touches the Rio Grande. Live oak, piñon and juniper give way at height to Douglas fir, aspen, maple, ponderosa pine and madrone. Several animals rare in Texas live here, among them the silver-haired bat, shorthorn lizard, Steller's jay, Clark's nutcracker and band-tailed pigeon. About eighteen inches of rain fall a year, more than in the desert counties around it.

What the plaque says

Jeff Davis County Formed from Presidio County. Created March 15, 1887. Organized May 16, 1887. Named in honor of Jefferson Davis. 1806-1868. President of the Confederate States. Fort Davis, County Seat, Presidio County, 1875. County Seat, Jeff Davis County, since 1887.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Davis National Historic Site — 0.8 mi
  A frontier post of 1854 to 1891 on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, garrisoned after the Civil War by Black regiments, with its buildings restored to their 1880 look.
• Davis Mountains State Park & Indian Lodge — 2.5 mi
  A 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps park above Fort Davis, with the CCC's Skyline Drive, the white adobe Indian Lodge and a trail down to the old fort.
• Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens — 4.8 mi
  The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute's grounds south of Fort Davis, with an 18-acre botanical garden, a cactus museum and trails into the desert foothills.
• McDonald Observatory — 9.6 mi
  The University of Texas observatory on Mount Locke, founded with a Paris, Texas banker's fortune, with star parties three nights a week under some of the darkest skies in the country.

More markers nearby

• Confederate President Jefferson Davis — steps away
• Old Fort Davis C. S. A. — steps away
• Hotel Limpia — steps away
• Pioneer Cemetery — 0.5 mi