The owner of a Louisiana construction company that builds man camps has purchased the historic Stillwell Store & RV Park near Big Bend National Park, potentially adding another large housing site for contractors working on the federal government’s border construction project, according to reporting by the Big Bend Sentinel.
Park Group Construction CEO Greg Gachassin of Lafayette, Louisiana, recently acquired the 250-acre property south of Marathon near Big Bend National Park and the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area, the Sentinel reported.
The property includes the Stillwell Store, an RV park capable of accommodating 133 recreational vehicles and Hallie’s Hall of Fame, a museum dedicated to longtime owner Hallie Stillwell. Stillwell, who arrived in the Big Bend in 1918, became a prominent local rancher, teacher and justice of the peace.
Gachassin did not respond to the Sentinel’s requests for information about his plans for the property. The newspaper said it could not confirm that the RV park would be used as a man camp for border wall workers.
However, state records show Gachassin also formed a company called Sunset Basin RV Park in June. Trucks and equipment belonging to a Midland water well company were observed at the Stillwell property within a week of the sale, according to the Sentinel.
The Stillwell family operated the RV park for decades, and the remote property was popular with winter visitors and tourists traveling to Big Bend National Park. The park is no longer accepting reservations, according to the Sentinel, and at least one person reported on social media that an existing reservation had been canceled.
The property had been listed for $875,000, although the final purchase price was not disclosed.
Brewster County property records reviewed by the Sentinel show the property changed hands twice over two days. Dr. Donald Kocurek of Schulenburg, who had managed the park for several years, transferred the deed July 30 to Flying Dove Ranch Inc., a corporation operated by Alpine resident Kristin Cavness. Flying Dove Ranch transferred the property the following day to Sunset Basin Development Corp., which is owned by Gachassin and was incorporated in June.
Kristin Cavness owns Alpine-based Ellyson Abstract and serves as general manager of the Alpine Cowboys. She declined to comment to the Sentinel. Her husband, Buddy Cavness, operations manager for WTG Fuels in Alpine and a former president of the Big Bend Regional Hospital District Board, initially returned a voicemail but did not respond to a subsequent request for comment, the newspaper reported.
The purchase comes as contractors mobilize across the Big Bend region for border barrier and related road construction.
Contractors began vegetation clearing and road work inside Big Bend National Park this week. A separate site north of Terlingua along Texas Highway 118 is expected to accommodate at least 200 workers and serve as an equipment staging area, according to the Sentinel.
Terlingua photographer Anna Claire Beasley, who lives next to that site and has publicly opposed the border wall project, said heavy equipment, trucks, lighting and other activity have rapidly transformed the area.
“It’s been insane,” Beasley said in an Instagram video cited by the Sentinel. “It’s not something that anyone would want to have next to their house. And the noise is constant.”
Beasley said 18-wheelers have been arriving regularly, including trucks carrying yellow pickups resembling vehicles used by Kiewit, a subcontractor involved in the border project.
She said the development threatens the isolation, dark skies and wildlife that drew her to the area.
“I did not move out here to live next to a man camp that is literally going to play a role in destroying my home, the area that I rely on for work,” Beasley said.
If the Stillwell property is ultimately used to house construction workers, its 133 RV spaces could make it another significant support site for the expanding border construction operation in and around Big Bend National Park.
The Big Bend Sentinel first reported the Stillwell property sale and details of the ownership transfers Friday.
