El Rancho de las Golondrinas

Throughout the 19th century, mining was a major industry in New Mexico, for silver, gold, lead, and other ores. There were mining towns all across the state. The ore seemed endless, the profits sure. But change is always just over the horizon. The latest change facing ghost towns is COVID-19, but you should be safe as long as you wear your mask and follow social-distancing recommendations. Rarely do many people visit these sites at any one time, and mostly you’ll … Read More

I had been thinking about this mission for a long time and I finally find myself in the Santa Fe library seated in front of this antique microfilm viewer the size of a small refrigerator and I have loaded the reel containing the early 1958 issues of the Santa Fe New Mexican. I was not sure why I had this unremitting need to know more about Alfred Morang. I had first seen his work painted on the adobe walls across … Read More

Our impromptu trip to Fort Bayard a few months ago was a culmination of two things: spending every weekend at home and simultaneously living through historic times. When it reached the peak of stir-crazy, my husband and I decided to take the kids out for a drive from Las Cruces to the City of Rocks State Park for an afternoon picnic. I suggested the drive to Fort Bayard, about a half-hour away, which I advertised to my young son and … Read More