Alibates Flint Quarries Visitor Center

Samuel Lander

Alibates flint is a special type of flint found only in the Texas panhandle found specifically around Lake Meredith National Recreation Area and Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. It’s primary use has been for tools—dating back to 13,000 years ago. It’s also a 7.5 on mohs scale of hardness. Geologically, the flint is agatized dolomite (or chert) created when silica rich waters replaced the minerals in the dolomite layer with quartz crystals. Economically, the flint was traded extensively throughout North America. It was valuable because of just how strong it was. This historic site puts all this information into easy to understand displays and videos. The rangers are very helpful and will try their best to answer any questions you may have.

James Marble

Excellent job by ranger Ben. Explained the different tools made from the flint. Make sure you take the ranger hike to actually walk on Monument land.

Robert Moore

I enjoyed my tour here. To see the quarries, you *must* take a guided tour, which took about two hours. My guide was knowledgeable and gave an interesting tour. The quarries themselves are pretty modest, but considering they were dug by hand with "shovels" made out of a bison's shoulder blade, a modest size would be expected. The tour would be most interesting to someone with an interest in archaeology or geology. Currently, the tours are offered at 10AM and 1PM. The morning tour might be better this time of year for cooler temps.

Michelle Zamora

So I ended up here on accident, as I was looking for Lake Meredith NRA but I'm so glad we stopped. The rangers here were super informative, the visitor center had a film about the native Americans who quarried flint and a small museum. And an actual flint expert (Knapper?) was on site telling stories and answering questions. He had various kinds of flint and materials and showed us how to make arrows, spears, etc. The history of the area is ancient and also modern (one of the first oil wells of TX was found nearby). There was a cool teepee outside and several trails in the beautiful scenery. I also saw some wildlife, to include a coyote. Free to visit!