Texas travel is like climbing through a time portal. The further west one goes, modern conveniences disappear, gas stations become less and less frequent until there are simply none. Houses are few, pastures become endless, and occasionally one comes to the junction of nowhere and what used to be. In the spring and fall these old roads are a biker's dream. But in the confines of winter- these lands are howlingly harsh.
Deep in the heart of old Comanche territory lies Indian Gap, Texas; aptly named for the valley between the hills known to pioneers as the Comanche lookouts. Perhaps the beauty of the location outweighed the pioneers' risk of decimation.
People still living in Indian Gap are far outnumbered by horses and longhorns that graze the pastures here. The Indian Gap school house now shelters a healthy herd and while exploring one has to be careful of cowpies and the large overgrown thorns that guard her entrance. A zoom lens is the best bet for the squeamish- or those not ready to fly under the radar of the rancher's gun as this school is now on private property. But she is worth the risk.
What a beauty she must have been in her 1913 prime! Her tin tiles litter the hallways, some still clinging to the rafters like bats in slumber, her interior woodwork crumbling back to dust. In defiance of her dilapidation, she holds her facade to the bitter end.
Looking out of the school's windows, the grass rolls under the unforgiving January wind. There is peaceful silence and the imagined laughter of the children who grew up in this town that today looks much the same as this 1907 photo. The general store is still standing along with a few one story buildings in the main cluster. Early Clabber Girl baking powder advertising can still be read on the store's front door. The surrounding hills are rumored to be good exploration grounds for arrowheads and old artifacts.
So far out from the world even today, Indian Gap is one of my favorite Texas ghost towns. Most people are drawn to historically accurate preserved tourist attractions to seek out the American story but I love getting into the nitty gritty of what time leaves behind and man abandons in the decay. It is here that construction elements are exposed like layers pulled back for a lingering peek. It is here where the distant thunder of Indians on horseback can be heard roaring closer and the panic of settlers with no place to hide plays out in my mind.
Indian Gap is located on Texas 218 in Hamilton County, approximately 3 hours southwest of Fort Worth. The surrounding roads are ghost towns unto themselves- offering up the skeletons of random settlements extinct today.
Rusted cars floating on a sea of winter grass, farm equipment standing silent, and houses left to fight their own battles for survival are frequent sights.
These are the immaculate time capsules left behind for future developers to find and marvel at the lives that were.
In all my travels I am a mere passer-through. A lone observer of what has been. I take nothing but pictures and leave only goodwill to the ghosts still sipping iced tea on front porches as the sun sets on any given day in an ordinary life in rural Texas.
LOVE & GHOST TRIPPIN'
Oh yes.... I can't even wait!
Posted by: Ashlie | 02/02/2013 at 03:55 PM
How cool! I love this. I think I would have to rubble through that glass and see if there was any old ones in there. I love that other thing. Is that an old washer?
Posted by: Kathy Wheeler | 01/30/2013 at 12:41 PM