Marker Inscription
The Butterfield Overland Mail, the first public transportation facility spanning the area from the Mississippi to the Pacific with passenger and mail service, 1858-61, used the 2400-foot peak to the northeast as a beacon. The drivers and passengers viewed it for 30 to 40 miles. In that era it was called Abercrombie Peak, for Colonel J. J. Abercrombie of the U.S. Army, active in defense of this frontier. Waterman Ormsby, a newspaper reporter riding the first Butterfield Stage to pass this way, noted that the peak resembled a fortress. Later the height was renamed Castle Peak. (1968)
About this site
Castle Peak is a historical marker in Merkel, Taylor County, dedicated in 1968. It is one of 47 historical markers documented in Taylor County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 102 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 32.3987, -99.9721 near Merkel. The nearest cataloged historic site is Indian Fight, Vicinity of (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Drummond Cemetery, Butterfield Mail & Stage Line, and Mountain Pass Station.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5441000756. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
