Terlingua Ghost Town
Capturing the Spirit of Terlingua Ghost Town in West Texas
Ruins, Relics, and Desert Road Trips on the Edge of Big Bend
There is just something about West Texas that gets under your skin in the best possible way. From my front door in Austin, making the trek out past the Pecos River is a full day's drive, meaning I've only made the journey out west three or four times. But on one recent trip, after setting up camp down in Big Bend National Park to chase down some remote desert landscapes, I spent a lazy afternoon wandering through Terlingua, just outside the northern border of Big Bend. If you have never rolled into this corner of Brewster County, it hits you immediately as a strange, wonderful hybrid of an old mining camp and an eccentric artist colony. I spent a solid hour poking around the skeletal remains of the old buildings, marveling at how a place once bustling with thousands of souls now stands wonderfully frozen in time.
One of the better preserved buildings in Terlingua
The history here runs deep, driven entirely by the discovery of cinnabar—the mercury-bearing ore—back in the mid-1880s. During its peak under the Chisos Mining Company and operators like Howard E. Perry, this district pumped out thousands of flasks of quicksilver, fueling an entire boomtown right on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert. When World War II ended and the demand shifted, the mines went bust, leaving behind a sprawling ghost town. Today, instead of miners wielding picks, you find an eclectic mix of desert wanderers, quirky art installations, and travelers stopping by on their way to Big Bend. Walking past the old wooden sign frames and rusted relics under the blazing West Texas sun feels like stepping onto a movie set where everyone just packed up and left yesterday.
I am heading right back down there this December for a full week with my local adventure club. We are planning to set up camp nearby, spend our days hiking and photographing the rugged terrain of Big Bend, and inevitably drift back into Terlingua and Marfa to soak up the culture.
Pro tip for anyone making the trip: make sure you carve out an evening for dinner and drinks at the historic St. George Hotel in Marfa. On three separate occasions I’ve sat down with my sweetheart, my son and my adventure club companions. That hotel is an absolute anchor for the region while experiencing Terlingua reminds us that the best places are often the ones the modern world bypassed entirely, leaving space for the quiet grit and independent spirit of the West to take root.
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