Kingston Ghost Town Museum

08/26/2026

I am on vacation so don’t have access to my research. However, I will post my favorite photo of Kingston. It is not a Burge photo and was taken from the east end of Kingston looking west. It is a great photo of the Mountain Pride Hotel about in the center and you can see the homes on North St in pretty good detail.

08/15/2026

Paranormal Perspectives of Albuquerque will be coming to Kingston on September 19 for an eerie experience at Kingston’s 1880’s cemetery.

08/02/2026

I recently received a request from one of our followers for information regarding her relative, William Burns. I always love these requests because it gives me an opportunity to learn more about early Kingston and the people who lived here.
William Burns, or Judge Burns, as he was often called, was a prominent person in early Kingston. He served as Justice of the Peace as early as 1883 and was also head of the Democratic Party and very active in mining ventures. He remained in Kingston for a couple of years after the 1890 fire before moving on in 1897. In his sale deed, it very specifically lists his household items in way more detail than I have seen before. I thought you might be interested it the inventory.
“The conveyance includes all of the following personal property… household and Kitchen furniture, stoves and stove fixtures, beds, bedsteads, bedding, lamps, tables, dishes, carpets, chairs, curtains, wardrobe, washstands, cabinet, bookcase, ice chest and dressing case, but does not books, pictures, desk and other personal property, not household kitchen or bedroom furniture……. Not sure why the kitchen and bedroom furniture are included and then not.
But, if you’ve seen a picture of a Victorian home you can almost picture what their home looked like.

07/22/2026

Our 2nd annual Fall Festival is coming up. Last years was a huge success and we expect this one to be even better. If you are interested in being a vendor you may contact me at [email protected]. We have both indoor and outdoor spaces. So save the date - Oct 17 from 10a - 4p.

07/07/2026

Charles Canfield came West from NY with his family when his father was going to try his hand at mining. He was never successful, but evidently Charles acquired his father’s lust for adventure. He left the family when he was 18 and took up mining himself. He was in Kingston by 1883. He sacrificed a lot but never gave up. During one of his lowest points, he was sitting under a tree resting when he saw some small bits of ore. The rest is history. He had discovered the Comstock Mine. He was able to pay off his debts, took his remaining profits and moved to California with his wife and children. He invested in oil with Edward Doheny, whom he had met in Kingston, and became a multimillionaire.
He wrote many letters to his wife while he was away from home, which provide insight into his life as a miner. The following are quotes taken from those letters.
“I have had no pay at all here yet….I have $1.50 and have had it since I came …”
“I have leather wrapped around one foot and one shirt-sleeve gone and am a total wreck in the clothes line”.
“I am writing by campfire, alone to-night with my horse and burro.”
“I am working 8 hours in a shaft 700’ deep and had a very narrow escape the other day. I was up in the shaft about 150’ from the bottom on a stage, when a stick of timber 14’ long came down the shaft, having broken loose from the rope with which they were lowering it 500’ above. It just grazed my shoulder and arm leaving it black to the elbow and just escaped our staging”.
“I had a run of mountain fever and was very sick for 2 or 3 weeks. Charlie Cady (his best friend) quit work and took almost as good care of me as I could get at home.,,,…I was out of my head for a while and talked all of the time. Charlie says that he knew a good deal about me before, but he knows the whole thing now”.
Charles died, while sitting in a chair in his room, in 1913, at 65 years old. He had a very interesting life.

06/27/2026

August Wohlgemuth was a Kingston blacksmith with a bit of history of his own.
Prior to coming to Kingston, he lived in Lincoln NM. In 1881, Billy the Kid was incarcerated in the Lincoln County jail on murder charges. While awaiting trial, he was allowed to use the privy. While returning to the jail on one such trip, he was able to overcome the deputy escorting him, get his gun and kill him. The marshal, Bob Olinger, who was having lunch at the Wortly Hotel, heard the shots and came running. He entered into an ambush and was also killed.
Billy had on leg irons that would have impeded his escape. A blacksmith was called to cut them off. That blacksmith was August Wohlgemuth. It took him about an hour, at gun point, but he succeeded and Billy the Kid escaped. A few years later, Wohlgemuth moved to Kingston and set up shop again.

06/18/2026

Our recent mining exhibit told the stories of 4 early miners, and they were all so different. They all pursued the illusive ‘big mining strike’, but only one of them succeeded.
Westy Peterson was one of those miners who never gave up. He had some good returns that enabled him to continue to pursue his dream, but not enough to retire. He made many friends and was highly respected. His life ended after major surgery in El Paso when he contracted pneumonia and died.
These are some of the documents that tell us a little about his life.

06/07/2026

The Victorio Hotel was built by Oliver Wilson and John Byron, stone masons from Sweden. They borrowed money from the Percha Bank to purchase furnishings and opened in October 1886. Terms of the loan were 1 year at 12%, which was the going rate at that time. When the loan came due they were unable to pay it. The Bank foreclosed on the Hotel and it was sold at auction to the Robinson family. This chair and lamp are in our museum, and they give you an idea of how ornate the furnishings must have been.

05/30/2026