Nolan County’s Trent Mesa is the world’s wind energy capital with a concentration of more giant turbines than anywhere else in the world, located south of Sweetwater. From I-20 you can see their graceful and perpetual sweep of the West Texas sky.
Nolan County was established in 1871 and will be celebrating its 125th anniversary during the Fourth of July celebrations. The festivities will be concentrated in the county’s largest city, Sweetwater, which was established the same year.
Sweetwater is known internationally for the World’s Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up held the second weekend of March. While not all of the city’s events attract more than 25,000 visitors, there are those distinctively homegrown family activities in which the locals take understandable pride.
During the early years of World War II, Sweetwater earned a unique place in the annals of history. Jacqueline Cochran, America’s foremost woman pilot, convinced the Army that she could recruit young women who would be equally capable of flying military aircraft and could relieve male pilots needed for combat.
Only 1,074 young women graduated out of the 25,000 who applied for this experimental flight training program. In February 1943, Sweetwater’s Avenger Field became the permanent training base for the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs). These pioneer women are now being honored with the establishment of the National WASP WWII Museum in the same 1929 hangar they used at Avenger Field.
Each season of the year brings different and entertaining activities to the
County