Castolon Visitor Center

Castolon Visitor Center is a small visitor desk in the adobe Garlick House, on a bluff above the Rio Grande floodplain in the Castolon Historic District. It’s a handy stop on Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, about eight miles from the Santa Elena Canyon trailhead. Go for ranger advice, historic displays, and a look around the old compound. The center runs seasonally and closes for lunch, so check its schedule if you’re counting on going inside.

The small center has an information desk, historic images about Castolon and border life, and a bookstore with a few sales items. The Magdalena House next door is a separate exhibit building about early settlers whose lives crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Accessible flush restrooms are nearby; the site also has parking for cars and buses or RVs, plus Wi-Fi.

The house sits at the edge of a bluff, with a broad view across the Rio Grande floodplain toward the Sierra Ponce cliffs in Mexico. The view is a good reason to step out even if you’re mainly here to talk with a ranger or see the exhibits.

The house was added to the Castolon compound after soldiers left Camp Santa Helena. Fred Garlick lived here while managing the farm for Wayne Cartledge’s La Harmonia Company. After the park acquired Castolon, rangers used the building as an office; it now serves as the visitor center.

People began farming the fertile Rio Grande banks downstream of Santa Elena Canyon in the early 1900s, growing crops such as corn, beans, wheat, squash, tomatoes, and melons. Cipriano Hernandez opened the area’s first store from his home in 1901; the house later became known as Alvino House.

The Mexican Revolution brought families north across the river from about 1912 to 1920. After the 1916 Glenn Springs raid, the National Guard established Camp Santa Helena at Castolon. Its permanent buildings were completed in 1920, and La Harmonia Company moved its store into the former barracks the following year. That trading post served the border community for about eighty years.