Friday, February 16 – We spent our last day here in Terlingua, Texas, just relaxing around the RV, doing some cleaning in an attempt to fight the ever-present dust in this desert environment, and visiting the Ghost Town in Terlingua.
Once home to 2,000 people, Terlingua was a thriving mercury mining town. Abandoned in the 1940's and then repopulated in the 1970's, it is now an active community of artists, musicians and free thinking individuals. This was once a thriving town with a butcher shop, ice cream parlor. Today it appears to be a community family or “hippie style” community from the past. The folks are living for today and enjoying life one day at a time.
The Terlingua Trading Company is a touristy/variety type store and also seems to surviving economically. Marsha even helped their bottom line by purchasing some agate stones for her pine needle basket hobby.
All the structures are historic and very fragile. Many built of adobe and slowly wearing away as a result of the environment. Many of the building are privately owned and used as bars, restaurants, or artsy shops.
The Starlight Theatre is a restaurant/bar that is probably the most profitable business in the small ghost town. We enjoyed several drinks there the other night and understand the food is pretty good but maybe a little expensive. They also have local entertainment nightly which we enjoyed.
Most of the remaining buildings are in a state of severe deterioration. Someone seems to be trying to save the church by replacing adobe and stucco. Hopefully the funding will hold out, and the church will be saved.
Saint Agnus Church was serviced by a priest that came once a month.
Perry Mansion, named after the mine owner.
The Perry School started as a “tent house” with one teacher. It became a
five-room building with four teachers, a principal, and 80 children.
This shaft is one of hundreds that were hand dug.
He acts so dumb sometimes….lol
The Terlingua Cemetery is another interesting area. Over 400 graves inhabit the cemetery, the oldest from 1903. Many of the inhabitants died in 1918 from influenza. Not a single person died from mercury poisoning as a result of working in the mine. This cemetery is still in use today. We enjoyed strolling among the tombstones and reading about some of these pioneers and quietly paying our respect.
US Marine Corp, Korea, Purple Heart.
Died in 2014.
1886-1945.
A big thank you to Erin/Mui, Two To Travel Phaeton, and Laurel/Eric, Raven and Chickadee, for all their wonderful suggestions for hikes in Big Bend, super blog posts and lots and lots of emails. Y’all made our visit fantastic! Tomorrow we head back East stopping in Del Rio, TX. Come along for the ride!
The photo below was taken through our screen door. We both heard someone talking. When Marsha looked out the door, there was some man sitting at our picnic table having a conference call. Not only that, but his dog was laying at the bottom of our steps. What is wrong with people?
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!
Great tour and pictures. It has been years since we were there. I remember the cemetery most of all.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun place to visit, thanks for all the great pictures and information. Maybe see if we can stop there some day.
ReplyDeleteWhen we had our Jeep we searched for Ghost Towns all over the Southwest. There's something that drags us to them. I wish I had cataloged our ghost towns over the years.
ReplyDeleteIt looked like Terlingua is a very interesting place to visit & if we continue to travel out west maybe we can visit it. Thanks for the info and photos.
That bar stool Marsha was sitting on is hilarious!
ReplyDeleteThat last photo is hilarious in a sad way. Makes you wonder about people! We had a couple of caravans come through early this month. One day, I was putting clothes away in the bedroom when I heard conversations and looked out, and a guy was standing right below our window chatting with the guy next door. Mind you, there is a wide enough grass strip that he could have been standing on. I opened the window and asked if I could help him, but he just didn't get the message. So, I got my book and went to sit outside, giving him dirty looks whenever he wandered over close to our rig on the concrete pad. I think his friend got the message and warned him off more effectively than I was able to.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout out ... glad our posts helped. I know I've gotten ideas for things to do in Houston from your blog, so nice to reciprocate.
By the way, I preferred the "yellow polka dot bikini bottoms" when we went to the Starlight Theater ;-) I did feel the price was high for the food ... more so because service was so bad when we went.
You certainly put our suggestions to good use, and added to our list of things to do on our next visit to Big Bend! I'm so glad our emails were of some help, since I haven't managed yet to blog about our visit to Big Bend...I'm planning to get us there on our blog next week. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe've enjoyed so much revisiting Big Bend with you. Your stories and photos of your adventures have been wonderful. Love the photo of you on the green bikini stool -- I sat on the yellow polka dot one and asked Eric if it made my butt look big. He said, "No honey, of course not!" LOL
Terlingua is definitely unique. We also enjoyed wandering around the cemetery and reading the headstones.
ReplyDeleteYour last photo cracked me up. Seems like I ask "what is wrong with people?" just about every day!
So many places we haven't experienced yet!! Your adventures in Big Bend will hopefully help us one day down the road for this amazing place is on our list!! Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteTerlingua sounds most interesting!! We always love walking through interesting cemeteries!! Safe travels!!
Love the picture of Marsha standing at the bar....lol Not sure about the person setting at your table. Seems like the longer we are on the road the more people like this we run in too. People cutting through our site is a common thing today, times are a changing.
ReplyDeleteTeflingua looks like a perfect way to spend your last day in the area. I really enjoy old towns and their cemeteries. Interesting to see that a group decided to revitalize the town. Hope the chapel survived. it looked adorable inside.
ReplyDeleteYes, "what's wrong with people" is an everyday saying for those with manners. Some just feel the whole RV park is theirs! You two should have taken plates of food out and sat down at the table to eat...haha!!
Forgot to mention your great butt in that bikini bottom!! Love the look with the cowboy boots:) Please do share you exercise routine!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't get to Terlingua Ghost Town either so it was great to read about the history of the area. We sat in some of those "big butt" chairs in FL...very fun! Seeing Paul standing on that iron 'screen' was a reminder that they NEVER grow up, do they? LuAnn
ReplyDeleteHow many ghost towns do you reckon you've visited over the course of your travels? Great pics of this one.
ReplyDeleteThe barstool pic did cause me to do a double take. . .LOL. Too funny!
You got me! I, too, had to look twice. Sorry... my first thought was Marsha has put on a few pounds! Sorry.
ReplyDeleteLooks like an interesting place to stop. I loved your "panties" or whatever they were.
ReplyDeleteNice hotpants
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