The storm hit just as I arrived in Ft Sumner
Ft Sumner is in our history books for a couple of reasons...It was a fort build around the Bosque Redondo Interment camp. This is the area they marched the Apache and the Navajo...10,000 of them from 1863-1868 They were held in terrible conditions and although I wanted to visit, I got into town in the middle of this storm and late in the day...So I chose to do something inside instead of going to the see the tragic story of how Natives were treated worse than anything that is going on today, and get depressed and feel like crap so I just didn't go!
I stopped at the Billy the Kid museum and burial place. I just happened to be heading to I-40 to make my eastward trek for home and this was almost right on the way...so I chose the Billy the Kid (Billy Bonney) Museum because my sister used to have her Western Books in this museum for sale. Her books are currently out of print, but I wanted to see where they had been sold. Her books were in the right place. I like Western History and although it seems the Outlaws became heroes, it is quite interesting! This museum is a 100 yr collection of the Sweet Family. It is more than just Billy the Kid...check out these exhibits..
the building is overflowing with all sorts of collections...here is the one of the very few images of the Kid!
the Kid's Rifle
collection of old lawmen badges...
A pony Express Rider would wear one of these...
all kinds of saddles on display...
Old barber chairs, old telephones, and even an old telephone switchboard,
an impressive arrowhead collection..
and Native pottery...
a lot of western art...
here is a rendition of the Kid's Burial
RR memorabilia
typewriters, irons, and radios....
and cameras...
and then another area for classic cars
my mom is always talking about riding in the rumble seat, the car up above has one! How handy that was!!
and other automotive collectibles
While I was in this museum in the back is an area with a tin roof...with skylights and suddenly it started to HAIL!! Listen to this!!
Boy I ran out of there!
Check out this Hail...
Quarter Sized...
When it finally stopped raining I headed over to the grave of the Kid...he is buried here in the Ft Sumner Post Cemetery.
Since the headstone was stolen twice there's a big cage around it..
.he is buried alongside 2 of his buddies
.he is buried alongside 2 of his buddies
Billy the Kid's Stone,
"he died as he had lived"
another marker in the cemetery...
A stormy look at the cemetery...
Not far out of town is Sumner Lake State Park, I headed over since the storm kept circling around...I got this fantastic spot!
barely had time to prepare a meal when the storm hit again, so that put me inside for the night
After the last of the storm stopped I had a peaceful night...and left pretty early after breakfast...and headed up to I-40 to start my eastward journey toward home...BOY what a wonderful Trip I have HAD!!
1,380 miles to go...and I didn't get far before I found more interesting stuff I had to stop and see!
MORE on the way!
PEACE
Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.
I love all the old cameras, it looks like a great place. Funnily enough i've just recently watched an American Pickers show that had some details on Billy the Kid I saw the photo on there of him!
ReplyDeleteAmerican Pickers is a fun show I enjoy seeing all the cool kinds they are able to dig out. It's amazing to me how much they pay for some of it tho!!
DeleteI would love to visit the Billy the Kid museum. But not the FT. Sumner, like you it would be very upsetting. I have read so many history books on the subject and I still can't wrap my head around the way they treated these American Indians.
ReplyDeleteAnyway at least you made it to where you were going when the storm finally hit. I have so many history books on the west. Sorry to hear your sisters are out of print now or I might just have to order it.
Its interesting how outlaws in many different countries go from being bad guys in the eyes of the law to heroes in the eyes of the public. I think I would find the Fort Sumner museum depressing, but then thats history and you cant judge the past in terms of modern day standards. Thankfully in general, civilization has moved on.
ReplyDelete