UNITED STATES: The Old Ghost Town of Terlingua

Since 2004, one of our favourite places to visit in Texas is Terlingua, near the Mexican border, just outside of Big Bend National Park.

It was a boom-and-bust town that rose quickly in the early 1900s and then emptied almost overnight in the 1940’s, leaving behind a haunting collection of stone ruins, crumbling buildings and old miner’s homes.

Today, Terlingua’s Ghost Town has a quirky mix of restored buildings, art studios and lived-in dwellings sitting beside abandoned ruins.

We describe it as the place that people go to drop out of society.

Or, it could be the place for people in the Witness Protection Program.

 At one time Terlingua was one of the largest cinnabar (mercury ore) mining operations in the United States. The demand for mercury in the early 1900s for explosives, medicine, thermometers and industrial processes brought hundreds of miners to this remote corner of West Texas. 

At its height, the mine supported a population of around 2,000 people, including miners, their families, cooks, merchants and laborers from both sides of the border. Terlingua became a lively town with stores, a hotel, a jail, a school and churches.

By the 1930s and ’40s, the quality of the ore declined, the Great Depression hit and cheaper sources of mercury were found elsewhere. Eventually the mining company went bankrupt, workers left and Terlingua quickly became a ghost town.

Many of the ruins are stone and adobe buildings, since those were the materials available and what miners used to withstand the desert heat. 

Roofs are long gone, but thick stone walls and doorways remain.

Old abandoned stone buildings attest to the hard life that residents eked out.

The views would have been fantastic.

 I used to be a bit weirded out by cemeteries, but, I find as I get older they kinda intrigue me. I always wonder about the people resting there and what their lives were like.

The Terlingua Cemetery is on a rocky hillside overlooking the desert. It dates back to the early 1900s, when Terlingua was a booming mining town.

Life in the mines was harsh and many of the graves belong to Mexican and American miners who died from mining accidents, mercury poisoning, disease or the brutal desert conditions. The cemetery reflects that mix of cultures and hardship — simple, handmade markers tell the story.

Most graves are marked with rough wooden crosses, stone mounds and hand-built memorials.

I found a number of the gravestones had bottles of liquor – most empty and some with liquid in them.

 These made me smile. 

 

But, tumbleweeds blow, life goes on and tourism has found Terlingua's Ghost Town.

The Starlight Theatre is now a restaurant and gathering spot with live music.

The Terlingua Trading Company is now a gift shop. 

People have a sense of humour. In the middle of the desert is the “Boathouse” bar.

And a food truck called "Dead Hungry" with "food to die for".

There is also a restaurant called La Kiva. Inside is what appears to be dinosaur remains on the wall. But look closely and you'll see it is titled “Penisauris Erectus”. 

Terlingua has not escaped the pickle ball craze. Complete with spectator seats on the side of the road.

The place is haunting, peaceful, beautiful and a reminder of the people who lived, worked, struggled and built lives in this isolated pocket of West Texas. 

Even though it is quirky, the sun still rises in the east and sets in the west. 

It will always have a special place in our hearts.