Huntsville (Texas)

Huntsville is a small city of about 45,000 residents, located in Walker County, part of the Piney Woods region of Texas. Huntsville is famous as the home of Texas hero, General Sam Houston with an enormous statue of Sam Houston next to Interstate 45, it's famous as a prison town, and is also home to Sam Houston State University.

Understand
Huntsville is most famous for its prison facilitiesː the most hard-core criminals in Texas get sent to Huntsville. Huntsville is very much a "company town", with several prison facilities within the city limits (including the Huntsville Unit, home of Texas's "Death Row"), as well as headquarters for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (the only state agency not headquartered in Austin). More than 12% of Huntsville's population is directly employed in the field of criminal corrections.

Sam Houston State University is the town's second biggest employer. The university is home to about 20,000 students. According to US News, the most popular fields of study are Homeland Security and Law Enforcement.

Get in
Huntsville is about 60-90 minutes north of Houston or about 2-1/2 hours south of Dallas on Interstate 45.

By bus
Greyhound buses leave Houston's main bus station for Huntsville about every 2 hours. A ticket to Huntsville will cost $30-35. Buses head south from Dallas about every 2 hours and a ticket to Huntsville will cost $25-35.

In Huntsville, the Greyhound station is at 1000 12th St., just 3 blocks from the prison system's Huntsville Unit.

By plane
Private planes can use Bruce Bros Huntsville Regional Airport (, LIDː UST). Located 2 miles northwest of town.

Get around
Many travelers to Huntsville get around in the back seat of a police car or in a prison transit bus.

If you're coming to Huntsville voluntarily, you'll probably be more comfortable driving your own car. Uber is available, but there is no public transit bus service.