The Alamo Village - West Texas
Whilst visiting the Alamo in San Antonio in September 2007 I was told of this place and made a mental note to visit when I came out this way. In February 2009 I planned a trip to the Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas and the route took me close to the Alamo village.
The place is the movie set built for the 1960 John Wayne film, 'The Alamo', and has been used in over 100 movies since then.
you will find the place tucked away 8 miles North of Bracketville, Texas on the road to 'Kickapoo Cavern State Park'
the buildings have been maintained perfectly and still possess the 'real feel' of an 1800's western town
I'm not sure how popular the place is but on the 16th February 2009 it was empty and I could wander in and out of the building at my leisure and grab some great pics without other tourists in shot
it goes without saying that I played several parts from the movie as I wandered around
I may have got it mixed up with other westerns but I was having a great time, like being a kid again
"are you laughing at my armadillo"......
It is quite incredible to think of the work that must have gone into these buildings to create the authentic look and feel but build a lasting creation.
there is a small museum section here with some fantastic candid shots of John Wayne (and others) taken during filming in 1960
there was an eerie feel to going down into these cells as you quickly lose any sense that this is a movie set and really feel the atmosphere of the place (perhaps aided by a lack of other visitors)
how I wished Mark was here with me as I wandered around, he would have played a good part and we would have laughed whilst living the cowboy life for a while
inside the church solid wooden pews faced a rustic carved alter, it had a great echo in here (must have been a pain when filming)
inside the small houses it's possible to sit and imagine life in the stifling heat of a Texas summer, don't even contemplate a tornado
back out in the street a few people turned up and a wild gunfighter appeared and fired off a couple of blank rounds in their direction after his challenge to 'draw' was met with indifference from me (I guess I didn't want to play cowboy after all)
this is a genuinely interesting little place, great effort was made to maintain authenticity during construction including importing tons of adobe bricks and dated timbers.
In September 2009 the place closed following the death of the owner. It did reopen for the summer of 2010 but had no shows, stores or restaurants. I really do think it would be a significant loss to allow this to fall into disrepair, it may be a 'creation' but it is one that was faithfully constructed and has become part of the history of America in its own right.