New Mexico

Land of Enchantment.

(Pictures and places in bold are places I have been to.)

Honorable mentions:

      • Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument (BLM)
      • Prehistoric Trackways National Monument (BLM)
      • Rio Grande del Norte National Monument (BLM)
      • Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument (BLM)
      • Otero Mesa, located in south central New Mexico, has an advocacy group, the Coalition for Otero Mesa, proposing protected status for “America’s Wildest Grassland” (oteromesa.org) (wildmesquite.org).
      • Milnesand Prairie Preserve protected by the Nature Conservancy and the Prairie Chicken Wildlife Areas protected by the State of New Mexico Department of Game & Fish manage a limited amount of land in the east-central part of New Mexico as needed prairie chicken habitat.

10. Fort Union National Monument

9. Volcanic New Mexico

      • Valles Caldera National Preserve
      • Capulin Volcano National Monument
      • El Malpais National Monument

8. Manhattan Project National Historical Park – Los Alamos (a small town gem)

International UFO Museum, Roswell
International UFO Museum, Roswell

7. Roswell

      • International UFO Museum and Research Center
      • Rosewell UFO Spacewalk
      • Downtown Historic District
Petroglyph National Monument
Petroglyph National Monument

6. Albuquerque and the Petroglyph National Monument, plus New Mexico’s portion of old Route 66

      • Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari
      • Blue Hole and Silver Moon Cafe in Santa Rosa
      • Sands Motel and New Mexico Mining Museum in Grants
      • El Rancho Hotel in Gallup

5. American Indian Pueblos of New Mexico

      • Taos Pueblo (a World Heritage Site and small town gem)
      • Acoma Pueblo – Sky City
      • Zuni Pueblo – Zuni-Cibola Complex National Historic Landmark (meritorious to be a national historical park) – Legendary Seven Cities of Gold
        1. Zuni Visitor Center/Zuni Pueblo Main Street and Old Zuni Mission
        2. Halona: Idiwan’a (the Middle Place) and other Pueblo of Zuni (town) tours
        3. Zuni artists (traditional pottery, stone “fetish” carving, silversmith/jewelry, woodcraving, painting, beadwork, traditional foods and cooking/bread baking, weaving, and music and dance)
        4. Hawikuh Ruins, Village of the Great Kivas, Badger Springs, and Zuni Pueblo (nation) tours
        5. A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center
      • San Ildefonso Pueblo
        1. San Ildefonso Pueblo Museum
        2. San Ildefonso Mission Church
        3. Pajarito Plateau along the Rio Grande
        4. Black-on-black pottery
        5. Buffalo Deer Dance
      • Jemez Pueblo – San Diego Canyon in the Jemez Mountains
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Santa Fe
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Santa Fe

4. Santa Fe

3. White Sands National Park – World Heritage Tentative List

Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Carlsbad Caverns National Park

2. Carlsbad Caverns National Park – a World Heritage Site

Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Chaco Culture National Historical Park

1. Pueblo Ruins of New Mexico

      • Chaco Culture National Historical Park (a World Heritage Site)
      • Pecos National Historical Park
      • Aztec Ruins National Monument
      • Bandelier National Monument
      • El Morro National Monument
      • Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
      • Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument
      • Blackwater Draw Locality No. 1 – Clovis Culture Archaeology Site – National Historic Landmark