New Mexico holds 112 documented abandoned places on the Urbex Maps atlas -- a count shaped by the state's extraordinary layering of historical eras: Spanish Colonial mission ruins, 19th-century mining ghost towns that boomed and died on silver, gold, copper, and coal, Native American pueblos abandoned centuries before European contact, Cold War military test sites, and the adobe ranch communities that emptied as the rural economy contracted. New Mexico's abandonment landscape is unlike any other state in the continental United States: the ruins here are measured not in decades but in centuries, and the ghost towns sit in a high desert landscape that preserves them with unusual permanence.
New Mexico's most significant abandoned places include Shakespeare Ghost Town -- one of the best-preserved privately owned ghost towns in the Southwest -- Dawson Cemetery as the poignant remnant of a coal mining disaster town, Madrid as the revived ghost town turned arts community, Mogollon as a remote gold and silver mining ghost town deep in the Gila Wilderness, and Fort Union National Monument as the largest 19th-century military ruin in the American Southwest.
This guide covers 10 of the most significant abandoned places in New Mexico, with free GPS coordinates on the Urbex Maps interactive atlas, verified YouTube embeds, and factual historical context.
Free urbex GPS: how Urbex Maps works
Every spot in this guide has a free GPS pin on the Urbex Maps interactive atlas. No account required -- just coordinates with satellite imagery and access notes. The full New Mexico database has 112 documented locations, covering ghost towns, mission ruins, Cold War test sites, mining camps, and frontier forts.
1. Madrid Ghost Town, Santa Fe County
Madrid (pronounced MAD-rid by locals) in Santa Fe County is the most visited and most photogenic of New Mexico's ghost towns -- a coal mining company town in the Ortiz Mountains along the Turquoise Trail (New Mexico Route 14) that was completely abandoned in the 1950s when the coal mines closed, then gradually repopulated beginning in the 1970s by artists, craftspeople, and alternative-lifestyle residents who transformed the empty company town into an arts community. Madrid is a ghost town that came back -- but its character as a former company town, with the mine infrastructure and the rows of identical company-owned houses, remains clearly legible.
Madrid was established in the 1830s when coal was discovered in the Ortiz Mountains, and developed into a major coal operation in the 1880s under the Albuquerque and Cerrillos Coal Company, which eventually became the Albuquerque and Cerrillos Coal Company subsidiary of the George Kaseman interests. The company owned every building in town -- the houses, the company store, the saloon, the school, the hospital. Workers rented their homes from the company, bought from the company store, and lived entirely within the company's economic universe.
At its peak Madrid had a population of over 2,500 people and a Christmas lighting display so elaborate -- powered by the mine's electrical generating capacity -- that Santa Fe Railway ran special excursion trains from Albuquerque so passengers could see the lights.
2. Chloride Ghost Town, Sierra County
Chloride in Sierra County is one of the most intact ghost towns in the Black Range of southwestern New Mexico -- a silver mining camp established in 1879 after prospectors discovered silver chloride ore in the draws and canyon walls of the Black Range, rapidly growing to a peak population of over 2,000 people by 1884 before the Silver Panic of 1893 collapsed the silver market and ended the mining economy in a single year.
The Black Range silver camps -- Chloride, Winston, Hermosa, Grafton -- represented the classic New Mexico boom-and-bust mining cycle of the 1870s through 1890s: discovery, rapid settlement, construction of the complete infrastructure of a small industrial town, peak production, price collapse, and abandonment. Chloride's position in the Black Range gave it a particularly dramatic setting: the mountains rise steeply from the desert floor, the canyons are narrow and shaded, and the town site sits at an elevation that made the summer climate bearable by Southwestern standards.
Several original buildings survive in Chloride, including the Pioneer Store (operated as a museum by the Black Range Museum organization), the Chloride Club saloon, and residential structures from the mining era. The surrounding landscape preserves mine shafts, tailings piles, and the collapsed infrastructure of the 19th-century extraction economy.
3. Dawson Cemetery and Ghost Town, Colfax County
Dawson in Colfax County is the most emotionally significant of New Mexico's coal ghost towns -- a Phelps Dodge company town in the Vermejo Valley that was the site of two of the worst coal mine disasters in New Mexico history: the 1913 explosion that killed 263 miners, and the 1923 explosion that killed 120 more. The Dawson Cemetery, with its rows of white iron crosses marking the graves of the disaster victims, is one of the most haunting memorial sites in the American West.
Dawson was established in 1901 when the Phelps Dodge Corporation began developing the coal seams of the Vermejo Valley to fuel its Arizona copper smelters. At its peak the town had a population of over 9,000 people, a hospital, schools, a recreation center, a theater, and the complete infrastructure of a Phelps Dodge company town. The company built well -- the housing was substantially better than typical coal camp construction -- and the social facilities were unusually comprehensive.
The two mine disasters -- caused by coal dust explosions ignited by blasting operations -- destroyed the workforce and the community's confidence. Phelps Dodge shut down the Dawson mine in 1950 and demolished the entire town in the same year, salvaging the materials. What remained was the cemetery, the mine portals in the canyon walls, and the foundations of the former townsite. The cemetery is maintained by descendants and accessible to visitors on private roads with permission.
4. Shakespeare Ghost Town, Hidalgo County
Shakespeare in Hidalgo County is the best-preserved privately owned ghost town in New Mexico -- a silver mining camp and stage stop in the Pyramid Mountains near Lordsburg that preserves an unusually complete collection of original adobe and frame buildings from the 1870s and 1880s mining era. The town is still owned by the Hill family, who have operated it as a heritage site since 1935, conducting guided tours twice a year and maintaining the structures to prevent further deterioration.
Shakespeare was first settled in the 1850s as a stage stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail route. Silver strikes in the 1870s transformed it into a mining camp; the discovery of the Ivanhoe Mine brought a brief population boom before the ore ran out and the population collapsed in the early 1890s. The town's relatively remote location in the Pyramid Mountains and its private ownership have protected it from the vandalism and scavenging that destroyed most ghost towns of similar age.
The surviving structures include the Grant House hotel (the oldest building in Shakespeare), the Butterfield Stage Stop, the Shakespeare Mine office, the general store, the assay office, and residential buildings -- a representative collection of the architectural types of a Southwest mining camp. The lynching tree in the Grant House yard, where several alleged criminals were hanged during Shakespeare's lawless mining years, is one of the site's most historically charged features.
5. Cabezon Ghost Town, Sandoval County
Cabezon in Sandoval County is one of the most dramatically situated ghost towns in New Mexico -- a Spanish Colonial and Territorial-era farming village in the Rio Puerco Valley directly below the massive volcanic plug of Cabezon Peak, a 2,000-foot-high basalt monolith that dominates the landscape for miles in every direction. The village's name means "big head" in Spanish, a reference to the volcanic peak.
Cabezon was settled in the 1770s by Spanish Colonial farmers who established ranches and a church in the Rio Puerco Valley. The community survived through the Spanish Colonial, Mexican, and American Territorial periods, persisting into the 20th century before finally emptying in the 1940s when the combination of drought, overgrazing that destroyed the valley's agricultural capacity, and the broader rural depopulation of New Mexico's interior made the community unsustainable.
The surviving structures include an adobe church (the most architecturally significant building in the ghost town), several collapsed adobe residential buildings, and the archaeological remnants of the farming and ranching infrastructure. The landscape context -- the enormous volcanic peak, the eroded badlands of the Rio Puerco Valley, the desert scrub -- makes Cabezon one of the most photographically striking ghost town sites in the Southwest.
6. White Sands Missile Range V-2 Launch Site, Dona Ana County
The White Sands Missile Range V-2 Launch Complex in Dona Ana County is the birthplace of the American space program -- the remote desert site where captured German V-2 ballistic missiles and the Operation Paperclip scientists who built them were tested beginning in April 1946, establishing the empirical foundation for American rocketry that would eventually lead to the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.
Operation Paperclip brought Werner von Braun and over 100 German rocket scientists from the collapsing Third Reich to White Sands in 1946. The V-2 rockets -- which had been used to bombard London and Antwerp -- were repurposed as research vehicles for studying high-altitude atmospheric conditions, guidance systems, and the basic physics of powered flight in near-space conditions.
Between 1946 and 1952, over 70 V-2 rockets were launched from White Sands, reaching altitudes of over 100 miles and providing the first photographs of Earth from space. The launch infrastructure -- the blockhouses, the gantries, the instrumentation buildings -- represents the physical origin point of the Space Age. The White Sands Missile Range Museum preserves V-2 hardware and the history of the test program; the launch site itself is on the active military installation.
7. Elizabethtown Ghost Town, Colfax County
Elizabethtown (also called E-Town) in Colfax County holds the distinction of being the first incorporated municipality in New Mexico Territory -- a gold mining boomtown established in 1870 in the Moreno Valley during a gold rush that briefly brought thousands of prospectors to the high mountain valley east of Taos. At its peak E-Town had a population of over 7,000 people, three hotels, seven saloons, a brewery, and the full commercial infrastructure of a major frontier mining town.
The gold deposits were shallow and soon worked out. By the mid-1870s the population had collapsed; by 1875 E-Town was largely abandoned. The town attempted a revival in the 1880s when a hydraulic mining operation briefly reprocessed the tailings, but the second boom was short-lived. By 1900 E-Town was effectively a ghost town.
The surviving physical remnants near the shores of Eagle Nest Lake include the Mutz Hotel ruins (the most substantial surviving structure), scattered foundation walls, and the Elizabethtown Cemetery. The site is on Bureau of Land Management land with open public access.
8. Lake Valley Ghost Town, Sierra County
Lake Valley in Sierra County is one of the most historically significant silver ghost towns in New Mexico -- a mining camp established in 1882 near one of the most remarkable silver deposits ever discovered in the American Southwest: the Bridal Chamber, a void in the rock filled with almost pure silver chloride ore so rich that miners reportedly used shovels to extract it directly. The Bridal Chamber produced an estimated 2.5 million ounces of silver before being completely mined out in just a few years.
Lake Valley was established after prospectors discovered silver in the Black Range foothills in 1882. The Santa Fe Railway built a spur line to the camp in 1884 to handle the ore shipments. At its peak Lake Valley had a population of several hundred people and the necessary commercial infrastructure for a mining camp of that scale.
The Silver Panic of 1893 ended silver mining across New Mexico. Lake Valley survived in reduced form into the early 20th century, but the population gradually declined. The Bureau of Land Management now manages the townsite as a heritage site. Several original buildings survive, including the Lake Valley Chapel (the most photographed structure in the ghost town), the school, and several commercial and residential buildings.
9. Mogollon Ghost Town, Catron County
Mogollon in Catron County is the most remote and atmospherically intact ghost town in New Mexico -- a gold and silver mining camp established in 1889 deep in the Mogollon Mountains near the edge of the Gila Wilderness, accessible only by a narrow mountain road that descends steeply into the canyon of Silver Creek. The town is named for the Mogollon people -- the ancient Southwestern culture whose pueblos and cliff dwellings are found throughout the region -- and the surrounding mountains that bear their name.
Mogollon produced gold and silver from the Little Fannie, Queen, and Maud S mines from the 1890s through the 1920s. The mines collectively produced an estimated $15 million in gold and silver. The 1909 flood devastated the town and was followed by a period of rebuilding; the rebuilt Mogollon of the early 20th century is largely the Mogollon visible today.
Mining finally ceased in the 1940s. The town emptied slowly through the mid-20th century. Today a small number of people live in the former townsite during summer months, but the majority of the original buildings are abandoned: the J.P. Holland Hotel, the assay office, the old jail, miners' cabins, commercial buildings, and the stamp mill ruins along Silver Creek. The 12-mile road from US Route 180 ends at Mogollon -- there is no through route.
10. Fort Union National Monument, Mora County
Fort Union National Monument in Mora County is the largest surviving 19th-century military ruin in the American Southwest -- the eroded adobe brick walls, chimneys, and building foundations of the third Fort Union, built in 1863 as the primary U.S. Army supply depot for the entire Southwest, serving the military operations across the New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas territories. At its peak Fort Union was the largest military installation in the American West, with warehouses, workshops, hospitals, officers' quarters, enlisted men's barracks, and a quartermaster depot that supplied Army posts across hundreds of thousands of square miles of territory.
Fort Union sat on the Santa Fe Trail -- the primary commercial and military route between Missouri and New Mexico -- and its position made it both the logistical center of the Southwest military establishment and the guardian of the trail against Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache raiding. The fort's quartermaster operations, supplying the chain of posts from Fort Leavenworth to the Rio Grande, represented one of the most complex logistics operations in the 19th-century American military.
The fort was abandoned in 1891 when the railroad network made the Santa Fe Trail obsolete. The adobe construction -- massive walls of sun-dried brick -- has been eroding ever since, producing the characteristic forest of adobe chimneys and wall stubs that defines the Fort Union landscape. The National Park Service manages the monument; the ruins are accessible on a self-guided walking trail.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about Abandoned Places in New Mexico
How many abandoned places are there in New Mexico?
The Urbex Maps database currently lists 112 documented abandoned locations in New Mexico. The state's abandonment landscape reflects Spanish Colonial mission ruins, 19th-century mining ghost towns, Cold War test sites, and abandoned ranching and farming communities across the high desert interior.
Is urban exploration legal in New Mexico?
Criminal trespass in New Mexico is addressed under NMSA 30-14-1. Many of New Mexico's significant sites are on public land: Fort Union National Monument is NPS-managed with public access, Elizabethtown and Lake Valley are on BLM land, White Sands Missile Range is an active military installation with restricted access, and Shakespeare is privately owned with limited access via scheduled tours. Always confirm the legal status of a specific location.
Can you visit Shakespeare Ghost Town?
Shakespeare Ghost Town is privately owned by the Hill family and is open for guided tours approximately two weekends per year (typically in spring and fall). Check the Shakespeare Ghost Town website for current tour dates and reservation information. Unscheduled visits are not permitted.
How do you get to Mogollon New Mexico?
Mogollon is reached via New Mexico Route 159, a narrow mountain road that descends from US Route 180 near Glenwood. The 12-mile road involves steep grades and tight switchbacks not suitable for large vehicles. The road is unpaved in sections and may be impassable after significant rainfall or in winter. The drive from Albuquerque is approximately 5 hours.
What happened to the Dawson mine?
The Dawson mine was closed by Phelps Dodge in 1950 after decades of coal production. The company demolished the entire town in the same year, salvaging building materials. The cemetery remains and is maintained by descendants. The site is on private land (former Vermejo Park Ranch, now owned by Ted Turner); access requires permission from the current landowners.
Conclusion: New Mexico, where centuries of abandonment layer from Spanish mission to Cold War test site
New Mexico's abandoned places span a longer time range than those of any other state in the continental United States -- from 13th-century Pueblo ruins to 20th-century Cold War infrastructure, with Spanish Colonial missions, 19th-century mining ghost towns, and Territorial-era forts filling the centuries between. With 112 locations on the Urbex Maps atlas, New Mexico rewards the explorer who brings historical literacy as well as a camera.
Explore more abandoned places in the United States
- ●Abandoned Places in Colorado: 10 Iconic Urbex Spots
- ●Abandoned Places in Arizona: 10 Iconic Urbex Spots
- ●Abandoned Places in Nevada: 10 Iconic Urbex Spots
- ●Abandoned Places in Texas: 10 Iconic Urbex Spots
- ●Ghost Towns USA: 20 Iconic Places Where Time Stopped
- ●Abandoned Places in the USA: 50 States, 50 Iconic Urbex Spots
