• Sierra del Carmen

    Big Bend

    National Park Texas

People

The Koch family camping in the Chisos Basin, 1945
The Koch family camping in the Chisos Basin, 1945.
NPS Historic Photograph Collection
 
The People of Big Bend

This place changes the people who experience it. The modern history of Big Bend if full of numerous characters and individuals who lived, struggled, and thrived in the unique environment of this region.

Here you'll find some of Big Bend's best characters: ranchers, residents, organizations, advocates, and park rangers.

  • The First Superintendent The First Superintendent

    Learn more about Ross Maxwell, who served as superintendent of Big Bend National Park from 1944-1952 Read More

  • Eat at Chata's Eat at Chata's

    Learn more about an early restauranteur Read More

Did You Know?

Mount Rushmore

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who carved the presidential figures into Mount Rushmore, briefly considered a similiar project on the walls of Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park. This idea, was quickly abandoned. More...