Hoyle's Folly - White Oaks Ghost Town
by Susan Rissi Tregoning
Title
Hoyle's Folly - White Oaks Ghost Town
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Hoyle's Folly in the ghost town of White Oaks, New Mexico.
White Oaks, New Mexico, was once known as the liveliest town in New Mexico Territory. It was a favorite haunt of Billy the Kid, who liked to hang out in the saloons and gambling parlors filled with gold mine roughnecks and prostitutes.
In 1893, Mathew "Watt" Hoyle, one of the owners of the Old Abe Mine, built this brick Victorian mansion for his fiancée. However, after the young lady arrived in White Oaks, she refused to stay, seeing how rugged the town was. He never saw her again.
Heartbroken, his dreams of a life with a family in White Oaks dashed Watt never finished the home's interior. With its stately gables and sharply-pitcher roof, the unfinished mansion soon became known as "Hoyle's folly." Watt would live a few more years in his mansion with Will, his older brother, and Will's wife. Hoyle eventually sold the mansion and moved to Denver, where he married and lived out the rest of his life.
Copyright 2022 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
February 14th, 2022
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