Galisteo, Lamy and Montezuma

 

So much has happened since last weekend, that I’m so far behind in updating my blog…and I also just needed some time to navigate through the saddness and devastation I felt over Rojo’s tragic death.

But I’m ready now, I think. Our drive up to Northern New Mexico involved sightseeing, photography and letterboxing.

Val drove NM41 north through Galisteo, through Lamy and then onto I-25 for a short while before we entered the mountains.

Our first stop after leaving home was in the village of Galisteo with a population of less than 200 residents living in mostly adobe homes. It is located about 19 miles south of Santa Fe. The current site of the village of Galisteo was established in 1816. Prior to the Spanish settlement, the area was inhabited by Pueblo people for thousands of years.

The church.

The majority of the village’s mailboxes. (not sure what the story is behind the missing third and fifth ones from the right)

Apothecary? Remedies and Herbs offered.

Beware of dangerous splintering guard dogs!

A backyard ceremonial adobe kiva?

Some pretty horses near Galisteo Creek.

We continued our drive into Lamy, looking for a letterbox located not far from the train depot.

The train station was quite crowded for the holiday weekend and the train was patriotically decorated, too.

But we were able to find the letterbox easily and we stamped in under the shade of huge old cottonwood trees beside the train depot and museum.

In February 1880, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad was developed. The Village of Lamy was established as a passenger terminal for Santa Fe and the surrounding area. The Lamy Junction became an important stop.

Lamy was a thriving railroad town until the 1930s, when the railroad converted from coal to diesel fuel and there was no longer need for a round house or for extra pusher locomotives. Lamy hit its peak population in 1930 with approximately 300 residents. After the 1930s Lamy's population dwindled, but the town has maintained its ties to the railroad. Lamy is the destination for a tourist excursion train that runs twice a day from the Santa Fe Railyard, and it is still a stop on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (Amtrak) line from Chicago to Los Angeles.

The inside of the train depot includes a library and old fashioned ticket booth.

 

Our next stop was in the community of Montezuma, New Mexico, just 5 miles northwest of the city of Las Vegas, New Mexico, just off  I-25.

 

The Montezuma Castle is located there and is now a part of The Armand Hammer United World College of the American West.

I have posted a photo of the castle in the previous post: Macro Monday ~ Montezuma Dragonfly.

The Montezuma Castle is a 90,000 square foot, 400 room Queen Anne-style hotel building. The current castle is actually the third on the site, the first two (dating to 1881 and 1885) were the first buildings in New Mexico to have electric lighting, and they both burned down.

The castle was originally constructed by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad as a luxury hotel, capitalizing on the natural hot springs on the site. The nearby Gallinas Creek also provided excellent trout fishing. Guests supposedly included Theodore Roosevelt, Rutherford B. Hayes, Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, Jesse James, Billie the Kid, and Emperor Hirohito of Japan.

Of course, we had to check out the hot springs for ourselves. And there were several pools of varying temperatures.

There was a circular pool above the other two pools where the hot springs originated. It drained into the second pool and then that pool drained into the lowest pool. The circular main pool’s water was hot enough to boil an egg, so were were content with sitting in the lowest pool, although on such a warm day, that pool was rather steamy, too. 

 

Alas, the letterbox we were hoping to find had gone missing, but we did enjoy our visit and found some interesting subjects to photograph.

This building was directly across from Montezuma’s castle, but we couldn’t figure out what it’s historic purpose was. It was interesting to photograph, though. (The clouds you see sort of look like smoke coming out of the tower/stack, don’t they. But the building is silent and empty)

This photo was taken driving in the opposite direction, back towards Las Vegas, NM.

 

Just a little more zoom.

To be continued………

From the Tower of,