ALPINE, Texas — Alpine, Texas is one of the more mountainous towns in West Texas.
It's also home to one of the more notable museums in the Permian Basin: The Museum of the Big Bend.
A museum that offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the history, culture, and people of the Big Bend area.
The Bend has more than one million acres across West Texas, so it’s safe to say it succeeds just the mountains of Alpine.
And that’s not the only thing this museum has succeeded at.
"This is our fourth year in a row of being awarded this recognition as one of the best small to medium-sized museums in Texas [by Texas Travel Awards]," said Museum Director Mary Bones.
While used to winning that award, this year the museum added another honor to their ever-growing mantle.
"So we were chosen as one of I believe 20 museums through USA Today," Bones said.
And out of all the small-town museums in the US…
"The Museum of the Big Bend came out as the number one best small-town museum in the country," Bones said.
In small town Alpine, sitting less than 6,000 people, a national honor that big doesn't get taken lightly.
Signifying the term “small-town museum,” the Museum of the Big Bend had some not so big beginnings.
"The museum pretty much began in 1920 with an arrowhead that was found west of Alpine," Bones said. "It was brought back to the school [Sul Ross]; the school had opened that same year in 1920. And this arrowhead was placed on a shelf in the biology room."
A museum that started in a science classroom is now in two huge buildings on the Sul Ross State University campus.
Where they now hold a mirage of Big Bend-centric exhibits,
From a life-size Big Bend bear to Big Bend film history to art exhibits.
Including their Andy Warhol exhibit that just opened on March 1st.
"And so it was Warhol looking back on the myth of the American West," Bones said. "When you are mythological heroes and villains and just kind of a meditation on the mythology and the lore of the American West and who’s kind of driving that story."
It’s exhibits like these that make the Museum of the Big Bend stand out, all of which while sitting on a college campus.
"Having a museum affiliated with your college, it seemed like a natural fit," Bones said. "Because you're preserving the history of an area so students could perhaps come to the museum, learn a little bit more about the community in which they're calling home and learn about the people in the place."
And having an award-winning museum right on campus definitely helps a university like Sul Ross.
"But what we also want to provide, and I think it's important, is to be a recruitment tool for Sul Ross State University," Bones said. "But since we're open, we give those folks an opportunity to learn a little bit more about the school. And we try to help in any way that we can to get them to the folks that can give them additional information about the various programs and degree opportunities Sul Ross."
With the help of the museum, tourists can really learn all about the million acres they might not have known about.
So if you’re in the Big Bend area, it might be worth the climb to Alpine.
If interested in visiting the Museum of the Big Bend, visit their website. To learn more about their Andy Warhol exhibit that's running until June 1, click here.