Portales and Ft Sumner via Roswell NM

We've had this miniature museum on our radar for about a year and finally had time to visit. It is located in Roswell a block west and and north of the UFO museum. There is NO charge for entry but there should be, please donate. While visiting the Roswell Miniature Museum we learned of the (Don) Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art. Located a bit east of the New Mexico Military Institute this museum is connected with an artist-in-residence program. Don Anderson came to the area in the late 1960s with some of his daddy's money and a directive to make a living. He was an artist, but started a refinery to make his fortune. He liked being around other artists so he started inviting friends. Now they host 6 artists a year and buy one of their pieces at the end of the residency. 

On the way to Portales, and a short detour off the main route, is the farming community of Dora. A cousin lived here all his adult life as an educator. He retired as the district school superintendent and beloved coach. The school gym bears his name:

Clovis Points are spearheads that document the arrival of the first Americans 13,500 years ago.

 

This museum on the campus of Eastern New Mexico State University in Portales documents the history of Clovis people and the nearby archeological site.

James Ridgely Whiteman discovered the site between Clovis and Portales in 1929.

Ft. Sumner was a Civil War era post best known as the site where Pat Garret killed Billy the Kid. It was also where New Mexico's "Long Walk" of Apaches and Navajos terminated. The Bosque Redondo is a memorial commemorating this dark chapter of history. Much like the Cherokee Trail of Tears, the Nde' and Dine' peoples were almost wiped out. They were then settled in a concentration camp, abused and starved. The memorial presentation very moving.