Adobes, Texas, Presidio County ghost town history, ruins photos, vintage map. (original) (raw)
History in a Pecan Shell
There isn't too much to say about Adobes. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Travis Peterson & Erik Whetstone's photo essays here are probably the most ever said about the town.
The five lines in the Handbook of Texas say that it came into being in the 1870s as "farming community" - as unlikely as that seems today. Sheep were raised as well as whatever crops they could coax from the rocky soil. But the Rio Grande did provide abundant water and in 1914 irrigation pumps allowed the residents to grow cotton. By 1930 Adobes had 750 irrigated acres.
Reportedly still operating in the 1980s, Adobes today offers the visitor a melancholy but memorable vision of what most people imagine a borderland ghost town to be.
The building with roof partially intact
Photo courtesy Travis Peterson, December 2018
View of Adobe through a doorway
Photo courtesy Travis Peterson, December 2018
Adobes, Texas in 2005
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One of Adobes (barely-marked) graves. Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, April 2005 |
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One building has managed to retain it's roof. Photo courtesy Erik Whetstone, April 2005 |
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ADOBES, TEXAS
by d.knape
All there is now
adobe shacks
roofs caved in
so bats attract
Old rusted cars
one Cadillac
the desert reclaims
cactus comin' back
Adobes once
a cotton patch
but fields dried up
folks up and packed
Dreams left in ruins
I'm guessin' that
Adobes gone
ain't comin' back.
© d.knape
"Once Upon A Line" - Light verse and poetry by d.knape �
Anyone wishing to share memories, stories (even flat tire stories) or information on Adobes, Texas, please contact us.
Adobes, Texas Forum
Subject: Adobes, TX
"... We just purchased 35 acres along FM 170, on the river, of what was once Adobes. Our plan is to slowly restore the land with native plants and sustainable agriculture. It has become overgrown with mesquite and invasive cane, choking out many other endemic plants.
The hope is to fund the project through personal funds, sweat equity, donations, and by allowing camping and hiking on the property. Plenty of people pass through Presidio coming and going from Big Bend, but don't stop to learn anything about the area. We want to highlight the history of Presidio and Alamos while offering a glimpse of what the land may have looked like 150 years ago.
A large portion of the Adobes ranch land was recently purchased by a man who is selling off smaller parcels. It's possible that this ghost town may see it's first activity in 40 years..." - Stephen Dempsey & Zara Parker, April 19, 2020
Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories and recent or vintage/historic photos, please contact us.