CARTA VALLEY, TEXAS

Texas Ghost Town
Edwards County, Texas Hill Country

29° 47' 37" N, 100° 40' 29" W (29.793611, -100.674722)

U.S. Highway 377
About 32 Miles SW of Rocksprings the county seat
NW of Uvalde
Population: 20 Est. (2000)

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Carta Valley closed gas station
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, June 2014
More Texas Gas Stations

History in a Pecan Shell

The community’s namesake is Ed Carta, an early settler in the last few years of the 19th Century. A cemetery was established in 1904 – two years before the first store opened. Storekeeper W. A. Varga became the first postmaster when the post office approved one in 1907.

Sometime prior to 1913 the community built a church / school. In that year the Methodists built a separate building for their services. A Baptist Church followed in 1923.

From a population of 35 residents in 1914, Carta Valley declined to 20 and stayed there through the 1950s.

In the 1960s, its population (briefly) soared to 150 residents served by five businesses but just as suddenly in the 1970s, returned to 20. No explanation has been offered for the reason. It is still marked on highway maps (since there’s plenty of room on the map in Edwards County).

Old gas pump
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, June 2014

Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, June 2014

Former Carta Valley School
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, June 2014
More Texas Schoolhouses

Carta Valley road sign
and sign to Carta Valley Cemetery
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, June 2014

Closed cemetery road
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, June 2014
More Texas Cemeteries

Edwards County 1920s Map showing Carter Valley
(near Val Verde County line)
From Texas state map #10749
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

Take a road trip

Texas Hill Country

Carta Valley, Texas Nearby Towns:
Rocksprings the county seat
Junction
Del Rio
Uvalde
San Antonio
See Edwards County

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