Places To Go

Those portions of the Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail authorized by Congress include over 3,000 miles of historic trail that was once an overland mail route between the eastern United States and growing populations on the West Coast. The route passes through seven states from Missouri to California. Learn more about the stage route stations by state.

Visit the ruins of the Pinery Station and get a sense of the isolation and rugged beauty that travelers experienced here in 1858. The old stone walls stand today as a testament to the spirit of change that early travelers, station keepers, and stage drivers carried as they passed this way over a century and a half ago.

In the early 1830s, the John and Mary Fitzgerald family settled on land located alongside the Military Road (also called Old Missouri Road), which ran from Springfield, Missouri to Fort Smith, Arkansas. The Fitzgerald’s took advantage of their location by establishing an inn and tavern on their farm. By the late 1830s it was a well-known stop for travelers. It became a supply source for many of the Trail of Tears Cherokee removal detachments in the late 1830s.

The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail commemorates the Cherokee people and their movement across a series of routes during their forced removal in 1838-1839. The routes themselves are still evident in the landscape, even still traveled by cars today. Cross Hollow and the historic of segment of road running through it represent the types of places where the trail feels ancient and sacred.

Cadron Settlement Park is like stepping back in time to the early 1800s. This was a stop along the water route to pick up supplies at the blockhouse. The burial location of many that perished along the way due to a cholera and measle outbreak here during their removal. The blockhouse was at times an inn, a tavern, trading post, fort and post office. It was a witness to the many detachments of people removed from their homes along the water route of their journey.

Constructed between 1877 and 1882, the iconic chapel at San Elizario’s former military presidio was the fourth chapel built after the presidio’s establishment in 1788. Soldiers from San Elzeario (also San Elceario), a decommissioned Spanish fort in Guajoquilla, Mexico (present-day Chihuahua), occupied the new presidio to defend area residents and El Camino Real caravans.

Following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Spanish and American Indians fled south to this site and named it after the place in New Mexico where they had previously resided. The first adobe church was built here in 1691. A major flood on the Rio Grande in 1829 (which switched this location from present-day Chihuahua, Mexico to present-day Texas), destroyed the church, and the present structure was built in 1840.

The first church at Ysleta was built in 1682 by Spaniards and American Indians who had fled from Isleta (south of present-day Albuquerque, New Mexico) during the Pueblo Revolt. Due to periodic floods of the Rio Grande, the present church was built in 1744, but it was heavily damaged after an 1829 flood and subsequently rebuilt. The last major renovations to the church took place after a 1907 fire partially destroyed the structure.

The historic Wire Road (also known as the Telegraph Road) runs from St. Louis, Missouri, to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Telegraph wire ran on the route, which also was a major corridor for moving troops and supplies. The road also lies on what was a historic Native American travel route and the old Butterfield Overland Mail route. A portion of the Wire Road runs through Wilson's Creek National Battlefield and is open to foot traffic.