Old Guadalupe County Courthouse

 

Puerto de Luna, NM

Latest Anaya offering defies genre

Grzelachowski's Store in Puerto de Luna, an old Billy the Kid haunt.

(Quay County Sun) If I had to assign a genre to Rudolfo Anaya’s latest book, “Chupacabra Meets Billy The Kid,” I’d say it’s of the Western / science fiction / fantasy / Chicano literature / historical fiction genre, as if there’s such a thing.
Maybe “unique” is a better description, because that’s certainly the way this outside-the-box tale reads.
And to the contrary, I’d describe its Guadalupe and Lincoln county settings as realistically descriptive … well, except for the wormhole along the Pecos. Continued

Nuestra Senora de Refugio Cemetery, Puerto de Luna, New Mexico

A Glimpse of Grzelachowski's Store

Puerto de Luna, New Mexico

(National Register of Historic Places) … Billy the Kid frequented the Grzelachowski store. A.J. Padilla, who was married to Grzelachowski's daughter, was the source of many stories told to him by his mother-in-law. Billy, she said, was fascinated by Grzelachowski's learning and by his tales. He would listen intently and beg Grzelachowski to speak Latin, Polish, or Greek.
Billy would stand in front of the store and shoot at tin cans, shifting his gun from hand to hand and shooting as well with either. Grzelachowski instructed his clerks not to argue with Billy and to give him anything he wanted. Once when Grzelachowski was away, the clerks saw Billy riding into town with a few of his companions and immediately ran out the back door. Finding the store deserted, Billy and his friends took what they needed and rode on.
Several days later when he returned through town, the Kid asked Grzelachowski what he owed. Grzelachowski replied that he didn't think that the Kid owed anything. Another time a clerk noticed the Kid taking ammunition and accused him of trying to steal from a friend. Whereupon Billy put the boxes back. Continued

Country Churches: Nuestra Senora del Refugio

Puerto de Luna, New Mexico

Country Churches: Saint Inez

Santa Inez, Puerto de Luna, New Mexico

They're everywhere! They're everywhere!

These little painted rocks are showing up all over the place.
This one was perched on the side of a historical marker in Puerto de Luna, New Mexico.

Old House 139

Puerto de Luna, New Mexico

Puerto de Luna and Santa Rosa mark the western edge of New Mexico's eastern plains. Both towns are decades older than most of their sister cities to the east.
Founded by Hispanic settlers in the 1860's, it was about as far east as a New Mexican could get without annoying the mighty Comanche, who would rule the Llano Estacado until 1874.
Billy the Kid spent his last Christmas in Puerto de Luna in 1880.