Kermit’s history comes to life through specific places and objects: the Moorhead Cable Tool Rig represents oil-drilling technology, while the Winkler County Courthouse reflects the county’s architectural history. Other highlights include the history of the Community Church, historic furnishings in the Medallion Home and murals depicting local and regional themes. Outside town, quartz sand dunes shape the landscape; Blue Mountain lies north of Kermit on the southern escarpment of the Llano Estacado. When planning your trip, you can choose between cultural history and the landscape as distinct areas of interest.
Oil History and Drilling Technology
The Moorhead Cable Tool Rig was the last wooden oil derrick in the United States to cease daily operations. Its drive wheels and drill string belong to a type that has not been manufactured since the 1920s. According to R. O. Moorhead, the rig was given to the City of Kermit as an exhibit on the history of the oil era in the Permian Basin. The technical details and the donation to the city make oil history a tangible story, focusing both on the equipment and the work it was used for.
Pioneer Park in Kermit is an open-air museum featuring the Moorhead Derrick, a cable-tool drilling rig with a walking beam. Nester’s Shack was moved there as one of the museum exhibits. If you plan to visit the park, check current visitor information in advance.
Buildings and Local History
The history of the Community Church includes 50 years of camp meetings, itinerant preachers, communal singing and Sunday schools held on ranches or in schoolhouses. When the church was founded in 1928, the courthouse built in 1910 served as its meeting place. The present Community Church building was the first brick building in Kermit. This sequence connects the community’s history with the places where its gatherings were held.
The Winkler County Courthouse also offers a clear timeline in the county’s history: oil was discovered there in 1926, and the courthouse was built in 1929–1930. Architect David Castle designed the four-story building in the Classical Revival, or Beaux-Arts, style. The dates, architect and architectural classification offer different ways to explore the building and the period in which it was constructed.
The Medallion Home contains historic furnishings. An outdoor mural in downtown depicts the cowboy history and Indigenous history of the region. Together with the historic buildings, the mural broadens the focus from the oil industry to other aspects of local and regional history.
Sand Dunes and Blue Mountain
Quartz sand dunes around Kermit can reach up to 60 feet high. The surrounding dunes are also depicted in an outdoor mural in downtown, bringing the landscape into the townscape. The height gives a concrete sense of the dunes without suggesting a specific route or visitor offering.
Blue Mountain is 4.5 miles north of Kermit and forms the southern escarpment of the Llano Estacado. Along the ridge, nearby rock shelters contain rock art depicting human hands, snakes, horses and geometric patterns. These images provide another cultural connection to the landscape around Kermit. Blue Mountain and the dunes offer different points of interest: the escarpment and rock art on one hand, and the height of the quartz sand dunes on the other.
Planning Your Stay
Kermit is located on State Highway 302; the Texas-New Mexico Railway is part of the town’s historic transportation geography. The Winkler County Golf Course is seven miles west of Kermit on Highway 302. If you would like to include the course in your plans, check current operating information in advance.
When choosing a hotel in Kermit, you can first consider what you would like to focus on during your stay: architecture, community history and oil-drilling technology, or the surrounding landscape. Those interested in oil history will find very different themes at the Moorhead Cable Tool Rig and the courthouse; those looking to combine landscape and cultural history can include the dunes and rock art in their travel plans.
For an overview of the wider area: Winkler County.
