A Santa Fe Mystery Returns
ILAN STAVANS VISITS northern New Mexico cemeteries to see how Jewish and Catholic symbols mix on some of the headstones. “The Star of David with a cross or a kabbalistic hand,” says the Amherst…
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Category: History
Tuskegee Airman James Flowers Looks Back
J AMES FLOWERS REMAINS MODEST about serving in the U.S. Army Air Force as a pilot and first lieutenant. At 110, the Tuskegee Airman is the oldest living veteran in the U.S. While Flowers says he tries…
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Echoes in Carson National Forest
ABOUT 20 MINUTES NORTH OF ABIQUIÚ, in the Carson National Forest, Echo Amphitheater creates the clearest echoes I’ve ever heard. My daughter’s voice ricochets across the concave wall of pink and…
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Guided Tours Along Route 66
ACOMA PUEBLO ALONG ROUTE 66 Acoma Pueblo was settled atop a 367-foot sandstone mesa nearly a millennia before nearby Route 66 came through. A 90-minute guided tour from the Sky City Cultural Center…
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Where Route 66 Still Moves
ON A WEEKEND NIGHT on Central Avenue, Route 66 does not feel historic. It feels active. Cars move slowly beneath old motel signs and storefront lights, an Impala rolling low, a Monte Carlo on wire…
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Route 66 Through Vintage Postcards
TUCUMCARI MOUNTAIN (ABOVE), 1938 “This card is pure Americana,” Lambert says. “As indicated by the messages on many other cards, heading west on Route 66 and seeing Tucumcari Mountain for the first…
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Party Central on Route 66
KNOWN TO MANY as “Mrs. Tucumcari,” Bettie Ditto owned the Best Western Pow Wow Inn for more than 50 years. Her brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Helen Lins, opened the adjacent Pow Wow Room that…
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Rest Easy, Dennis Hopper
TOWARD THE CENTER of a small cemetery in Ranchos de Taos, among rocks and desert scrub, a weathered wooden cross marks the grave of Dennis Hopper. Bandanas, motorcycle patches, and beads flutter from…
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Walk Chaco’s Ancient Trails
THE TRAIL TO TSIN KLETSIN meanders through sagebrush, sandstone, and desert washes before climbing up to the Ancestral Puebloan great house. The South Mesa structure seems to stand alone, far removed…
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Ancient Astronomy at Chaco Canyon
WHILE THE SKY still just hints at dawn, people line up at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park Visitor Center, waiting for the gates to open on what, for many, will be a once-in-a-lifetime view…
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