Butterfield Overland Mail Stage route in Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Here's a couple of locations for all you stagecoach fans:  Guadalupe Mountains National Park was the site of the first meeting of the easternbound and westernbound stages on the inaugural Butterfield Overland Mail Stagecoach in 1868, and visitors can trace the route through the park!  For eleven months from September 1858 to August 1859, stagecoaches rumbled through this land, delivering passangers and the U.S. mail on the route from Missouri to California, a 2800 mile route.  Two sites in the park are marked with the trail--the Williams Ranch Road in the western part of the park, and the Pinery Station (where the stage stopped briefly for food and relief) near the Pine Springs Visitor Center.  To learn more about Guadalupe Mountains National Park, click here.