Aug. 20, 2018
WPA School …
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression to provide jobs for people in need. Architects…
Dust On The Lens
Explorations into the dirt roads & enchanted byways that are the state of New Mexico
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Dust On The Lens's Small Towns Posts
Aug. 10, 2018
Villanueva General Store Villanueva, NM
The Villanueva General Store, which is across from the Our Lady of Guadalupe church, makes THE best Frito pie. We spent about an hour there a few weeks ago…
July 22, 2018
Holman, NM
Holman is a ranching and farming community five miles northwest of Mora. The area where the settlement was founded was originally called San Antonio lo de Mora…
July 10, 2018
Milnesand, NM
Milnesand is located about 35 miles south of Portales on NM-206. Present population is 63. Milnesand may be a small dot on the map, but it is big in the heart…
July 07, 2018
Petaca, NM
Petaca (Spanish for "hip flask") is a small community - just 25 people as of the last census - about 15 miles northeast of El Rito. On January 29, 1836, Jose…
July 06, 2018
Cañon Plaza, NM
The village of Cañon Plaza, 5 miles NW of Vallecitos in NM-111, is within the boundaries of the pine-filled Carson National Forest. On the day we visited, the…
June 24, 2018
Tres Piedras, NM
Tres Piedras (Spanish for "three rocks," alluding to a nearby mountain range) is adjacent to the Carson National Forest and is located about 30 miles northwest…
June 22, 2018
El Rito, NM
El Rito, (Spanish for "little river"), is located on NM- 554; 18 miles NW of Española and 15 miles NW of Ojo Caliente. Originally named El Rito Colorado (the…
June 21, 2018
Mars Polar Lander El…
This was unexpected and a fun treat to see. This installation sits on NM-554 - the main street - in El Rito. The man who built it, Pete Garcia, lives behind …
June 14, 2018
Vallecitos, NM
Vallecitos (named after the Spanish word for "small valley") is an unincorporated community located in Rio Arriba County, along NM-11, 22.7 miles…
June 09, 2018
The Burro Serenade Carrizozo, NM
Carrizozo is located at the intersection of NM-54 and NM-380. The name of the town is derived from the Spanish vernacular for reed grass (carrizo), which grew…
June 07, 2018
The Berardinelli House Cerrillos, NM
The Berardinelli House, ca. 1886, is a double adobe building that originally served as a residence with an attached saloon. The Berardinelli family built the…
June 04, 2018
Doc Richard's Drug Store Cerrillos, NM
One of the first children born in Carbonateville, NM in June 1881 was to Mr. and Mrs. Richards. In September of that year, the family moved 3 miles down the…
May 25, 2018
Elida, NM
Elida, population 183, is a town on NM-70. The late philanthropist Addie Peed Swearingen grew up in Elida and lived on a ranch there from 1960-1979. Another…
May 24, 2018
Cuba, NM
Cuba, in the Rio Puerco Valley, is a trade center for ranching and the Navajo Reservation and Jicarilla Apache Reservation. It's also a stopping place for…
May 23, 2018
Dulce, NM
Dulce, NM is located right on the Colorado-New Mexico border. It’s a quaint town, with a population just under 3,000. It’s the tribal headquarters of the…
May 22, 2018
Seboyeta, NM
Formed by an old Spanish land grant, Seboyeta (Spanish for little onion) was the first village settled by the Spanish west of the Rio Grande River in 1800.…
May 19, 2018
La Jara, NM
La Jara is on NM-96, toward the end of the Jicarilla Reservation. This abandoned adobe is obviously not lived in. Fresh horse droppings near a makeshift…
May 18, 2018
Pleasanton, NM
Every once in a while, we drive through tiny towns and find unexected cool things. Pleasanton is less than 1/2 mile long - blink and you've gone through it. It…
May 17, 2018
Lemitar, NM
Lemitar is just off of I-25, going towards Socorro. Many settlers ventured along the river north and south of Socorro looking for good farm land. The area north…
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