Cibolo Creek Ranch in the Headlines with the Death of Antonin Scalia

Cibolo Creek Ranch is not the sort of place that needs to seek publicity. The West Texas resort is a getaway for the rich and famous, with guests like Mick Jagger, Bruce Willis, and the Dixie Chicks—and this past weekend, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died there, apparently of natural causes, on Saturday.  

First-time guest Scalia checked in for the weekend in a group of three dozen planning to shoot quail, the reports say. He had a nice dinner, retired about 9:30, and then failed to come down for a scheduled breakfast in the morning.

Cibolo Creek Ranch is a sprawling property just north of the Mexican border, in which three restored “centuries-old” Adobe forts are sprinkled over 30,000 rugged acres. Built in 1857 as a fort, it was purchased in 1990 and renovated by Houston executive John B. Poindexter and has been host to the rich and famous seeking privacy ever since.

Mick Jagger, Bruce Willis, and Tommy Lee Jones have been guests here; the Dixie Chicks’ Emily Erwin chose the resort for her wedding. “There Will Be Blood” with Daniel Day-Lewis was filmed here; so was “Giant,” with Rock Hudson, James Dean, and Elizabeth Taylor.

“Nestled peacefully in the Chinati Mountains, a true West Texas experience awaits at Cibolo Creek Ranch,” its website says. “Our Big Bend property is equal parts resort lodging and remote getaway.”

Room rates start at $350 a night, and include amenities such as catch-and-release fishing in a private lake, paddle boats, mountain bikes, an occasional buffalo or black bear, and use of a 5,300-foot airstrip.

Poindexter told the SanAntonio Express-News that he knocked on Scalia’s door at 8:30 but left when there was no response. He came back, concerned and accompanied by a “friend of Scalia’s who had accompanied him from Washington,” three hours later.

Finding the 79-year-old Scalia cold and lifeless, Poindexter “consulted with a doctor at a hospital in Alpine, concluded resuscitation would have been futile, and contacted federal authorities.”

The resort declined to comment to TMR.

Photo courtesy: Jon Hanson