Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Mayhill, NM

Mayhill is an unincorporated community in Otero County, New Mexico, treated by the Census Bureau as a census-designated place (CDP).

The 2020 census counted 96 residents in Mayhill.

Mayhill sits at an elevation of about 6,700 feet on the eastern slope of the Sacramento Mountains, surrounded by the Lincoln National Forest.

The community stands at the confluence of James Canyon and the Rio Peñasco, about 17 miles east of Cloudcroft at the junction of U.S. Highway 82 and New Mexico State Road 130.

John Mahill bought the land covering the present village site from John James, for whom James Canyon was named, for $300 in December 1882 and built an adobe house that is still standing and occupied by family members.

Mayhill's first post office, called Upper Penasco, was established in 1885 in the Coe residence, with Molly Coe as the first postmaster.

In 1904, when the post office was permanently located, the community was officially named Mayhill rather than Mahill, apparently through a Postal Department error that was never corrected despite attempts to fix it.

Mayhill has its own post office today, with ZIP code 88339.

The Mayhill Administrative Site, a Forest Service station built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; five of its six CCC-era buildings still stand.

Mayhill lent its name to one of the original ranger districts of the Sacramento and Alamo national forests; the surrounding forest is now administered as part of the Sacramento Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest.