Hillsboro Cafe New Mexico

One recent day we took a ride over to the Hillsboro Cafe. Located in Hillsboro, NM a small, old historic mining town about 53 miles east of where we are staying in Silver City. We took Hwy 152, following the blue line on the map, to get there. Hwy 152 is a fascinating windy, twisty, mountain road. that goes up and over Emory Pass.

This is the sign marking the top of Emory Pass. As you can see the elevation is over 8,000 feet. Also from here is a hiking trail that covers the entire north-south length of the central ridge of these, the Black Mountains. Emory Pass was named in honor of LT. W.H. Emory who passed here guided by Kit Carson in 1846. His report to the U.S. Government is the earliest scientific account of this region which then belonged to Mexico.

This image was taken at the Emory Pass viewpoint looking east, quite a view, and shows part of the road leading down towards Hillsboro and beyond. It hugs the cliffs and winds down the mountain.
Hwy 152 is paved the entire length and has two low clearance bridges between Kingston and Hillsboro that you need to be concerned with if you choose to pull a trailer or drive a tall motor home over the route. The bridges are about 12 feet 6 inches in height so lots of room for cars or other normal vehicles.

Here is a snippet from Google Maps that shows part of Hwy 152 as seen in the above image only this image is from about Emory Pass down to Kingston which is about 9 miles west of Hillsboro Cafe. It pretty graphically shows the winding, twisting nature of the road. There are a lot of motor cycles that traverse this route. It seems it would be a really fun ride on a bike.

Here is the front of the cafe. We were told the small town has a population of about 140. There is no other location to get anything to eat here. There is not a fast food store nor any grocery establishment. The supplies are purchased in Truth or Consequences NM which is about 32 miles to the east from here. At this point you are mostly down out of the mountains so the road east provides for faster travel.

When you first enter the cafe you see a long somewhat narrow establishment that has a myriad of historical artifacts hanging from the upper walls and stored in cases lining the lower wall area. There is a lot of fascinating stuff to look at here.

My guess is that the eggburger advertised on this sign on the wall was the original Egg McMuffin but I would also guess this sign was from a long time back. Note all the other artifacts.

Situated around the cafe you will find a few pearls of wisdom. This one seemed to indicate the general theme of the area, don’t be in a hurry. The sign reads “If you are in a hurry you should have been here yesterday”

As you look further into the cafe you see more and more stuff. They have even reached the world of tech and have a "Trip Adviser" flag on the wall. Guess you cannot get away from social media no matter where you go. We wonder if "Trip Adviser" will be around for the next 150 years as the Cafe has been for the past 150.

I noticed this sign on the wall advertising an ice cream soda with 3 scoops of ice cream for 30 cents. I told the waitress that I wanted to order one of those and she smiled and said “We sold out of those about 37 years ago and just haven’t gotten any more in”. Oh well, I am sure they have other delights.

Another placard indicating the establishment has been around since 1879. It was founded here because of a gold strike. A smaller community just to the west is named Kingston and it had a Silver strike. As you can see at one time they offered a wide variety of necessary supplies.

Here is another set of words to live by "If you can't find it here we can tell you how to get along without it". Since it is over 30 miles to any store of any type they may do a lot of explaining about how to live without many things.

 

Of course you cannot go this far without finding some nourishment. They have fabulous food, all made from scratch. Here is a Bumbleberry Pie with a small scoop of ice cream. The pie had Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Apple, Peach, and Rhubarb. It was really delicious and not overly sweet. The rest of the lunch was equally well prepared and super delicious as well.

As we left the building we noticed this mural painted on the side. Very nicely done.
If you wanted a further detailed description of hwy 152 here is a link to a Desert USA article that provides additional, detailed information Click Here

We hope you got a good impression of the Hillsboro Cafe. It is a neat place well worth the effort to get there. Lots to see, the waitress was very efficient and informative, and the food was fabulous. If you are ever in the area stop, take a look around and have a bite to eat, great food, great place

Let us know if you have any questions or comments.

All the best - George & Deanna