Cuervo Ghost Town 31Cuervo Ghost Town 32Cuervo Ghost Town – OpennessCuervo Ghost Town -Target Object
In rural U.S. it is not unusual to see bullet holes in abandoned objects and road signs. This is perhaps a sign of the U.S. love affair with guns. Shooting at such objects as this abandoned vehicle could put other in danger, since there are still a few people in this area and many vehicles pass through on I-40.
Cuervo Ghost Town – Abandoned Automobile
One can see in the image above an indication of the traffic along I-40 through Cuervo. I usually tried to wait until there was no traffic in the background of my shots, but sometime that required more time than I had the patience for.
Cuervo Ghost Town – Abandoned AutomobileCuervo Ghost Town 32
I made the shot of the kitchen area of this abandoned house through an open window, I think (or doorway, I don’t recall which).
Cuervo Ghost Town – Parting Shot
I made this last shot as I walked back towards my vehicle.
This concludes this series on the mostly abandoned community of Cuervo, New Mexico. More history of this ghost town can be found here.
Cuervo Ghost Town 13Cuervo Ghost Town – Gravitational DistortionCuervo Ghost Town 14Cuervo Ghost Town 15Cuervo Ghost Town 16Cuervo Ghost Town – Cholla Planter
Cholla cacti converts this abandoned washing machine into a planter. This image was chosen by Flickr for its Explore page.
Cuervo Ghost Town 17Cuervo Ghost Town – Even the Trees have Ghosts hereCuervo Ghost Town 18
This is the old church that first drew my attention to Cuervo, New Mexico, as I drove by along I-40, some years ago. This time I took time to stop and photograph portions of this mostly ghost town.
Cuervo Ghost Town ChurchCuervo Ghost Town 8Cuervo Ghost Town 9Cuervo Ghost Town 10Cuervo Ghost Town 11Cuervo Ghost Town Water TankCuervo Ghost Town 12
Cuervo, New Mexico is a small community along interstate I-40 in New Mexico. It is mostly a ghost town, having been established as a railroad stop in 1901, then drying up when the railroad chose another stop in Tucumcari, NM.
I’ve driven this stretch of I-40 past Cuervo numerous times, first making a mental note of this place, when I spotted an old, picturesque church as I drove by at 75mph, thinking that someday I might want to stop in to photograph that old church.
I had spent the night near Gallup, NM, waking up to a snow covered vehicle and campground with temperature in the low 20s. I drove through intermittent snow and rain that heavily overcast morning. I figured the overcast sky would create the perfect environment for photographing in Cuervo, so I determined to take time to stop here today. Atlas, as I drove along not paying attention to where I was, I drove past the only east bound exit for Cuervo. I had to drive 7 or 8 miles to the next exit, make a U-turn and backtrack to Cuervo. By the time I got back to Cuervo, most of the overcast had cleared and it was mostly bright and sunny. But I was here and decided to walk around the small town, photographing the abandoned homes, anyway.
Cuervo Ghost Town 1Cuervo Ghost Town 2Cuervo Ghost Town 3Cuervo Ghost Town 4Cuervo Ghost Town 5Cuervo Ghost Town 6 – Cali-RoseCuervo Ghost Town 7Cuervo Ghost Town 8 – The Church
The old church is still somewhat maintained, at least. The roof appears to be relatively new.
Driving towards Del Norte on FSR 380, I stopped at the ghost town of Summitville, an old mining town. There are abandoned, weathering old structures here and some old mine equipment in a parking area that overlooks the current modern mining operation.
Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
I had previously passed through here with my son and DIL, having lunch in the parking area, but I had not browsed around the abandoned structures. So today I walked around with my iPhone getting a few images of this historic site.
Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
The lumber planks on some of the sidewalls of these old buildings had weathered to a wonderful patina.
Nail heads and tarpaper. Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
There are remnants of the original tarpaper covering, held in place by rusty nails, on the outside walls.
I was intrigued by the weathered patina on the exposed lumber on the exterior walls of these old buildings.
Nails and weathered wall plank, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.Abandoned house, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
It must have been cold in these old buildings in the winter here, as there did not appear to be any insulation in the walls or ceilings, just tarpaper covered exterior walls.
At least the residents and workers here had good views of the mountains, which were probably much more attractive in those old days before the pine bark beetles killed so many of the evergreens.
Old, abandoned houses and modern mine structures, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.Abandoned facility, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.Rusty, broken door hinge, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.Abandoned structures, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
Imagine how this might look with healthy evergreens around, rather than the beetle killed trees.
Abandoned and Weathered, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.Abandoned Structure and Modern Mine Facilities, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.Abandoned Structures, Summitville, Colorado. iPhone photograph.
The attractive, colorful weathered patina on the wood planks appears to be on mostly the sides facing a southeasterly direction, while all the other sides have mostly a grey patina.
On road trips, I am always amazed and intrigued by the many abandoned, deteriorating houses and business building that I see, especially in rural areas. I’ve taken more note of these on my most recent trips through northwestern Texas and portions of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Tennessee.
An abandoned farm house along US 287 in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nike Silver Efex Pro 2.
It has occurred to me that an interesting photographic project would be to seek out, photograph and document many of the more prominent and interesting abandoned buildings, perhaps, even documenting the history of those structures, the ownership and the stories behind how these came to be abandoned. One would also need to get permission from the appropriate people to photograph those that require getting onto private property to do so and this would take time and effort. A project of this magnitude would be a major undertaking and one that I am not likely to have sufficient time to pursue. However, I might try to take more time to photograph some of those easily accessible ones that I encounter on my journeys.
An abandoned house in rural Texas along US 287 with a newer farm house in the background. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
On the last leg of my most recent trip, between Amarillo and DFW, I eventually decided to take time to photograph a few, after passing up many other interesting looking abandoned houses. I only shot a few of these dilapidated structures, as I had a travel schedule and I could not take too much time stopping frequently for photos.
An abandoned farm house along US 287 in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.Abandoned house along US 287 in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.An abandoned business type building in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.An abandoned house in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Color Efex Pro 2.
A dedicated project to photograph these abandoned structures could take much time, especially, if one were to try to get the photographs from early morning to about mid-morning or middle to late afternoon. Photographing during various seasons would also be good, maybe getting fall color or spring flowering plants into the compositions, where possible, and maybe winter photos with snow on and around the old homes.
Abandoned farm buildings in northwestern Texas. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe LR and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
I will keep this idea in the back of my mind and maybe take a trip just to photograph these nostalgic buildings. I’m sure there are many of these scattered throughout the countryside near me; but those might take much exploring to find. On the other hand, there are many visible along major US and State highways throughout rural areas near many small towns, where changing economic conditions result in the displacement of people and businesses.
I will welcome readers’ suggestions on this topic. Maybe some of you are aware of interesting, abandoned houses and can share information about those.
