deja vu

 

The church Nuestra Senora de los Dolores in Manzano, founded 1824, has a scattering of graves in the churchyard including these twin iron angels.  The Salt Missions Trail makes an interesting day trip.

 

Manzano, New Mexico

no fresh water

 

Leaving Texas headed west on US 62, the monotony of the scenery might cause you to zone out-- until you come to Arkansas Junction.  Then you're thinking "did I take a wrong turn" on the way to Carlsbad, New Mexico?  My traveling companion Sally and I spent some of the 70 miles between Hobbs and Carlsbad looking for the Halfway Bar but never found it (typical in our quest for "old" landmarks). Supposedly Arkansas Junction, at US 62 and NM 203, was established in the late 1940s as workers traveled from Lovington to build the natural gas processing plants.  Once upon a time, there was a café, now gone the way of the Halfway Bar.  Just the Arkansas Junction sign remains on the road between Texas and New Mexico.

 

US 62-180, New Mexico

6.8.2016

iglesia casa colorado

 

Casa Colorado was a 17th century landmark along El Camino Real but didn't thrive as a village until the 1830s.  This view is eastward; westward is the green of the Rio Grande valley lush with alfalfa fields.

 

Casa Colorado

Valencia County, New Mexico

reflection of the past

In its heyday, South First Street in Raton bustled with traffic.  The past grandeur of the Palace Hotel, built in 1896, is hinted at in the stone facade.  The hotel's front door reflects the Raton train depot.  The Mission Revival architecture style of the 1903 depot honors Raton's Spanish history.  The quiet street comes to life once a day, especially during the summer season, when the daily Amtrak stops and Boys Scouts detrain -- and get on a bus bound for the Philmont Scout Ranch.

Palace Hotel
Raton, New Mexico
5.25.2012

hymnal page 33 "blessed be the name"

St John Methodist Episcopal Church

Johnson Mesa, New Mexico

behold God's handiwork

The St. John Methodist Episcopal Church has held weekly services since 1897.  It would be difficult to concentrate on the Sunday sermon while admiring the glorious spring view of the mesa (or puzzling why the pews are painted pink).

Johnson Mesa

Highway 72

New Mexico

5.26.2012

view from the pulpit

The St. John Methodist Espiscopal Church is a stone building erected in 1897 atop Johnson Mesa.  Johnson Mesa is a high, stark plateau-- lushly green this time of year -- rising 2000 feet above the Raton valley.  In 1887 miners from Raton, disgruntled with hard work in the mines, took advantage of free land and attempted ranching and farming on the mesa.  Alas, equally hard work and harsh weather took their toll.  Today, where once there was a homestead on every 160 acres, only a few ranches, abandoned homesteads -- and the Johnson Mesa Church -- remain.