Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Stepping back in time.

One of my favorite things as a full timer is exploring our history and for the last two days I was able to step back in time a hundred years as I visited Chloride New Mexico. I occupied space #1 at the Pioneer Store RV park at $15.00 per night for full hookups which is hard to beat.


The only drawback is at this location you are pretty well removed from civilization and you can forget cell service and internet access.


The first thing I did was take a walking tour of the 4 blocks the comprise what is left of the town. The first notable landmark is the 'hanging tree', right in the middle of the main street and looking much like it did in pictures from 100 years ago..
There is no record of any one ever being hung from the 'hanging' tree, but apparently a few drunks were tied to the tree overnight before being run out of town.

Starting from the south end of town the first building encountered is the last wall standing of the old blacksmith shop. Adobe doesn't fare too well when not maintained.

Then it was the old fort which was right across the street. You have to remember this was Apache (can you say Geronimo) Country at the time.

Across the street was The Dr. Blinn house.

And next to the fort was a native rock building with an extreme pitched roof to withstand hail storms that the builder was more than concerned about.

A small native stone building originally built as a chicken coop, it has also been used as a school and a home and there were reports of a working still in the basement during the 1930's. 

This large adobe building was originally Judge Edwin Holmes' law office. It later served as a post office, barber shop, church, dance hall and feed storage. The use that blows me away is that in 1914 in this remote location, this was a Harley Davidson dealership.

This was one of Chlorides early saloons and served as post office until 1957 when it closed.

That's about half the building in Chloride and the more interesting ones are yet to come. We'll do that tomorrow. For the rest of the day it will be Olympics and baseball. More ways to enjoy the good life.

18 comments:

  1. Now that was very interesting to me.

    Your rig looks so much bigger than I had imagined!

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    Replies
    1. Lots more to come Judy. Mel (my motorhome) is 31' stem to stern.

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  2. Replies
    1. Just boggles the mind that such a remote place would have a dealer.

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  3. Great pictures and loved the stories for each building. Good looking rig also.

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    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed the tour. Mel appreciates the compliment too.

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  4. I like to park in towns that I can walk around. I can survive ok for one or two days without cell service or internet. I will need to make a note of this town.

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  5. In the one town we visited, they chained the prisoners to the "hanging" tree. Even if it was just overnight.
    The Dr. Blinn house looks like it is in pretty good shape. I take it you couldn't go in any of the buildings.
    Thanks for today's tour. Looks like a neat place to visit.

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    Replies
    1. Most of the houses are privately owned, the Blinn house is owner occupied.

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  6. Thank you,
    I enjoyed the glimpse of history !

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  7. Glad to see you didn't wind up in any kind of close contact with that tree. Nice to know you can behave in public... ;c)

    Enjoying the tour!

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  8. I love it and will be waiting for tomorrow's post

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  9. Thanks for being such a good tour guide, I really enjoy your little side adventures especially to old towns. Looking forward to the next edition.

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    Replies
    1. I find these little pieces of history fascinating and love taking you folks along on the ride.

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