The Lincoln County War

The Pond Hotel

In June of 1897, the hotel was being run by Mrs E Hillenbrand. 

In 1910, the Automobile Club of St Louis chose the Pond Hotel as their lunch stop during their third annual owner's reliability tour. Pre-event media coverage note that "it is reported that the fare at this inn is of the best" and would be available for a "nominal charge" during the one hour layover there. Plans were made to oil Manchester Road through town so the cars of spectators would not get dusty. 

Miss Emma Essen passed away June 7, 1940. She had been the proprietress of the hotel for more than five decades retiring shortly before her death. She died of a heart attack at her home in Pond. Her services were held at the nearby Methodist Church and was buried in Bethel Cemetery. She was 75 years old and was survived by brother Fred and Hugo, and sister Lottie Kern.

The contents of the hotel went up for public sale in April of 1951. Among the fine antiques offered were buggies, a marble-topped chest, bureaus and walnut furniture. In June, an auction was held to liquidate the remaining contents. A few weeks later, a two room apartment, apparently unfurnished, was made available for rent. The hotel along with five acres of land was again for sale in March 1952. A large auction was held there on September 10, 1960, the items being offered for sale by Mrs Warren Dixon, owner. The property did not appear to be up for bidding, but that may have been the end of the road for the Pond Hotel. 

In 1996, a local developer proposed using the old structure as a 200 seat restaurant and microbrewery. The $1.7 million project was passed by the Wildwood City council despite strong opposition of the site's immediate neighbors. Plans were still moving forward in late 1997, but apparently fizzled out. The project was the last ray of hope for the historic structure. 

Some time between my visit on October 26, 2012, and today, March 13, 2021, the structure was destroyed. At this moment Google Maps still shows the building in their ground level imagery, but the satellite view show the land cleared of the structure. The hotel was on the south side of Manchester Road and just west of Christy Avenue. satellite view  street view

Heading Home

Hatch, New Mexico. Peppers are dried on the roof then strung in hanging bunches and wreaths.

"TRINITY SITE

The nuclear age began with the detination of world's first atomic bomb at the Trinity Site on July 16, 1945. The site may have been names Trinity by J Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Los Alamos Nuclear Physics Laboratory, who said at the blast, 'Now, I am became Death, the destroyer of worlds,' quoting from the Bhagavad Gita. The detonation of the bomb marked the culmination of the Manhatten Project."

Rolling into Carrizozo, New Mexico.

Ruins somewhere along the trail.

 

Lincoln, New Mexico, primary site of the Lincon County War.

Grave of Billy the Kid, Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

Presbyterian church in Taiban, New Mexico, built in 1908.

Sante Fe railroad depot, Melrose, New Mexico.

The Cruce Building, Texico, New Mexico.

Day Four

This little cactus represents everything in the desert. Survival is a struggle for every animal and plant. This little guy has made his home on the deck of a bridge.

Cool tombstone, Kingston, New Mexico.

View from Emery Pass on the Black Range Highway, New Mexico, 8,000 feet.

Black Range Highway, New Mexico.