One of the things I love most about being on the road is stumbling into places where the past is not tucked away in a museum somewhere but still sits right out in the open.

Terlingua, Texas is one of those places.

Today it is known as a ghost town, a Big Bend stop, and the birthplace of chili cookoffs worldwide. But before it became all of that, Terlingua was a hard-working mercury mining town in one of the most remote and unforgiving corners of Texas.

The mineral was cinnabar, a bright red ore used to produce mercury. Its discovery brought miners and families into the Chihuahuan Desert in the late 1800s, and by the early 1900s Terlingua had become a real community built around the Chisos Mining Company. There was a store, water, public food and lodging, ice making, telephone service, and mail delivery three times a week.

In other words, even way out here, people did what people always do. They built a community.

But life here was not easy. The work in the mines was dangerous. People died from harsh working conditions, gunfights, and the influenza epidemic of 1918. The Terlingua Cemetery, which dates back to the early 1900s, is a haunting reminder that this was not just a mining operation. It was home. Families lived here. Children grew up here. People worked, struggled, celebrated, buried their dead, and kept going.

What struck me most is that the cemetery is still used by the local community today. Every November 2, people gather there for Día de los Muertos to honor those who came before them. That says something powerful about place. A town can be called a ghost town and still have a living memory.

Terlingua also has a wonderfully Texas kind of second act. Each year, thousands of “chiliheads” gather here (also in November) for the annual chili cookoffs. There are costumes, music, competition, and more personality than most places can hold. I love that. Only in Texas can a remote mining town become both a historic landmark and the center of the chili universe.

I’ve visited a lot of communities, and I’m always reminded that every place has a story. Some are polished and easy to tell. Others are dusty, complicated, and carved out of rock and hardship.

Terlingua’s story is the latter.

It is a reminder that communities are not built by convenience. They are built by people who decide to make a life where they are, even when where they are is difficult. And when those stories are preserved, they become more than history. They become part of the soul of a place.

Terlingua is definitely worth the drive.

About Ron on the Road

Ron Holifield speaks to over 2,000 local government officials annually and has coffee with over 250 local government officials each year as part of his travels. If you have a cool site you think he should visit, email Ron@CivicMarketplace.com. 

NOTE: This column was written with the assistance of Melissa Valentine, senior director of operations and support at Civic Marketplace. 

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