ALL AROUND THE STATE WE GO - again

             
We're off on another route around the state finding new (and old) cemeteries. 

First stop was Magdalena and the Community Cemetery.  Very old cemetery that is still used today, just north of town of Magdalena.

 
The town of Kelly New Mexico, which thrived here, was more than a mining boomtown.... it was home to it's thousands of citizens. The mining operations sent huge shipments of lead, zinc, and silver ores to smelters, which helped build America during the industrial westward expansion. These great shipments made Kelly the foremost mine in New Mexico's 19th century past. John S. Hutchason arrived here in 1866 after serving in the Civil War to prospect this area at the invitation of his partner Pete Kinisinger. The early town on this site as called "Middle Camp:, and formed a hub for the Graphic, Waldo, Juanita, and Kelly Mines.  Today it is a ghost town with only a tiny church (St John the Baptist) surviving.  But they had a cemetery and the gravesites are scattered on the hills.  We found about 20 readable markers.

Kelly Cemetery

Cleveland Ranch Cemetery is actually a marker along US 60 as you get close to Pietown from the East.

Cleveland Ranch

In the small town of Quemado, there are actually 3 cemeteries.  The first two are at the Sacred Heart Church.  One is the Old Sacred Heart, the other is the newer section behind the church.

Sacred Heart Church, Quemado

                                           

Sacred Heart Old Cemetery

Sacred Heart New Cemetery

                                        
                                      
There is also a single grave site in Quemado for A.A.C. Baca who died in 1912.  It is on private property behind locked gates.

Grave of A.A.C. Baca

There is one more memorial along US 60 just west of Quemado.  It is the Curtis Family grave site who were pioneers in the area.  It is two babies who died in 1918 and 1920.


Curtis Memorial

Down south to Deming we went.  There are three cemeteries associated with Deming but only two are still being used.  The first is Holy Cross Cemetery NW of downtown.  There is nothing left of this one.

Holy Cross Deming

To the north of the city, just about 1 mile past the Hatch junction is the Desert View Cemetery.  This cemetery is still used but is showing its age.


Desert View, Deming

 

And east of downtown is Mountain View Cemetery.  A very large and pretty cemetery that has large upright headstones, so rare today.

Mountain View, Deming

In Las Cruces there are many cemeteries.  In the city proper there is Masonic, IOOF, St. Joseph, and Our Lady of Guadalupe.

        On the NW corner of Compress and Brown is the Masonic Cemetery, a very pretty tree-lined cemetery.

Masonic Cemetery, Las Cruces
 

Across the street, on the NE corner, is the IOOF cemetery and Barela Catholic Cemetery.                Neither cemetery is being used.  The Barela Catholic has a locked gate.

IOOF Cemetery

 

Barela Catholic Cemetery

                                                       

Saint Joseph Old (west side) Las Cruces

                                             

Saint Joseph New (east side) Las Cruces

                                      


      Our Lady of Guadalupe Cemetery is south of Las Cruces in the area known as Tortugas.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Las Cruces

North of Las Cruces is the tiny town of Dona Ana where there are 3 cemeteries.

Dona Ana Historical Cemetery

Dona Ana Methodist Cemetery 

Dona Ana Cemetery

 

 

And finally to Socorro and a rabbit-warren of streets.  Hard to find these three cemeteries that actually all within a mile of each other.

 

San Miguel Catholic Old Cemetery

 Socorro

San Miguel Catholic New Cemetery (just west of Old)

 

  

Socorro Cemetery (NW of San Miguel New)

 

 

We took 1037 pictures on this trip and travelled  557 miles

 

So many to find; So little time!

We were off on another cemetery hunt - actually multiple cemeteries hunt!

We headed north up on NM 4 to NM 290 a few miles to Ponderosa.  There is a small cemetery next to the Ponderosa Fire Station called aptly, Pondrosa Cemetery.  Perhaps 200 burials here, many very old.

Ponderosa Cemetery, Sandoval County, NM

Back to NM 4 and headed north to Jemez Springs.  There are two cemeteries behind the Our Lady of Assumption Catholic church right on NM 4.  I think there are Catholic burials behind the church and then in the back part of the cemetery is the Jemez Springs Presbyterian burials.

Our Lady of Assumption Jemez Springs, Sandoval Co., NM

Jemez Springs Presbyterian, Sandoval Co., NM

Next was Los Alamos where there is surprisingly only one cemetery in a fair sized city.  It is tucked into the north part of the city and is the only cemetery in the entire Los Alamos county.  It is a beautiful cool and green cemetery with gentle hills and pretty benches.

Guaje Pine, Los Alamos, NM

 

We got lost trying to find San Ildefonso so just had to continue on to Santa Clara Pueblo. 

Santa Clara Pueblo, Rio Arriba Co., NM

 

The Black Mesa Cemetery is beautiful set against a pretty mesa.  But it is behind locked gates and about 1/2 mile is the closest we could get.

                                          Black Mesa Cemetery, Rio Arriba Co., NM

In Espanola there is only one cemetery, fairly large, known as Sacred Heart.  It is on the west side of town behind the Sacred Heart Catholic church.  It too was locked but we could get through a skinny little gate.  There are many cats wandering around this cemetery and they scare you when they jump off a tombstone!

                                           Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery, Espanola, NM

After spending the night, we started early the next morning just north of NM 68 on US 285 is the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo aka San Juan Pueblo.  Just 1/2 mile from the turn off NM 68 (on US 285) is the Saint John the Baptist large cemetery.

                                          At Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, Rio Arriba Co., NM

Continuing north, we went east on NM 582 to the tiny village of Guique.  There is a small village cemetery here with about 100 burials.

                                          San Raphael del Guique, Rio Arriba Co., NM

On to the equally small village of Chamita.  The main cemetery is on CR 56, just south of US 285.

                                         Capilla de San Pedro, Chamita, Rio Arriba Co., NM

Next we needed to find a second cemetery in Chamita.  This tiny area has only tiny, tiny alleyways off the main road.  It was just like driving in someones driveway in order to get anywhere.  Driving a large white Audi Q7 vehicle, being 'white' and not speaking Spanish set us WAY apart from the villagers.  It seemed every yard had someone watching us.  But in order to find this second cemetery, we had to ask someone.  We stopped a man walking down the road looking for his lost clutch parts.  When we asked him if he knew of another cemetery, he said no one knows about that one!  It was our lucky day because this cemetery was actually on his property and his grandparents had owned it!  He took us right to the hidden cemetery on his property and told us the history.  He registered it with the church and named it Camino Angelito.  Sometimes it pays to not speak Spanish!

                                                       Camino Angelito, Chamita, NM

                                         Graves of 5 little children the cemetery is named after

Now we are are on the High Road to Taos and checking out the confusing community of Cordova.  You have to go south of NM 76 down CR80 and once again on tiny dirt roads.  There are two cemeteries here, surprisingly, across the street from each other, both with lots of room.  There was no indication of a name for either, so we are just calling them Cordova East (on east side of road) and Cordova West (side of road).

Cordova East

Cordova West

 

We have also been confused by cemetery listings for Truchas so we had to go there too!  There is one large cemetery coming into Truchas from the West on NM 76.

Los Llanitos Cemetery, W of Truchas, Rio Arriba, NM

 

In the village of Truchas, right where NM 76 makes a sharp left turn and NM 578 goes east, there is a plot that has 3 cemeteries combined.  Only one had a name visible.  We are guessing (until we can prove otherwise) that one of these is the Camposanto Truchas.

 

Truchas North site

Truchas West site

Martinez Cemetery, Truchas, NM

The Martinez Cemetery was the only one with a name, which is on the large cross.

 

Our last stop was south of Santa Fe in the rain.  From I-25 take the Las Golondrinas exit west to Camino San Jose and follow it to the little church.  This is the San Jose Camposanto or La Cienega Cemetery.

 

 

This was the end of this survey trip but there will be another one next month.  Stay tuned!

Trip was 176 miles.

Around the state - again

We took a trip to northern New Mexico and found some of the more elusive cemeteries.  Our first stop was to Pecos where we thought there were 3 cemeteries.  Nope - only two.

Saint Anthony (new) in Pecos

There is also Saint Anthony (old) a few blocks east of the new cemetery but we could not locate it.

Next we went to Rowe which is a very small village but does have a Catholic church with mass twice a month.  There are two cemeteries here.

Rowe Cemetery

Sagrada Familia, Rowe

To the west of I-25, and south of Las Vegas is Ojitos Frios, another tiny village about 10 miles from anything.

And we even found a lone grave a few miles from Ojitos Frios on CR A20

Travelling further south on I-25 we came to La Manga where the cemetery surrounds a tiny church named Santo Nino de Atocha

Just a few miles further south is Tecolote.  We were looking for fair size site but sure where.  We turned south and west off the freeway and found the cemetery!  But it was the wrong one.  So we found another new one and didn't find the one we were looking for.

Working on the name for this church.  There are only a few older stones in churchyard.

Continuing south, but still before Glorieta, is the tiny village of Bernal.  Another Catholic church and churchyard cemetery with many burials.

We did stop in Raton to verify three cemeteries that are fairly large and documented.

                                                           Mt Calvary on west side of city

                                                         Fairmont on the north side of city

                                         Fairview on east side and the oldest cemetery (also
                                           known as Old Raton Cemetery)