New Mexico History Museum

I visited three museums on my first trip to Santa Fe. This museum was probably my favorite.

When you first walk into one section of the museum, you’re taken aback by so many crucified Jesus’.

To have this old wagon on display is a very cool thing.

There’s lots of things associated with cowboys and their equipment, like these saddles.

This old drum has some serious mileage on it.

Having these old playing cards on display was pretty cool.

I liked that with the uniform they had a portrait of him wearing it. This was a good display.

The museum had lots of guns on display. There’s no getting around the fact that New Mexico was part of the Wild West.

This is a replica of the gun the revolutionaries used. Their supporters would hide bullets in loafs of bread to supply them with ammo.

The first gold strike in the Old West was made by Jose Ortiz in 1832 south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in what would quickly become the boom town of Delores.

The era known as the Wild West began after the Civil War in 1865.

The period ended around 1895, lasting for 30 years.

The most famous gunslingers in the Wild West were James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok and William H. Bonney aka “Billy the Kid”.

The Santa Fe Trail ran 900 miles from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe (now New Mexico). The Santa Fe Trail was one of America’s great trade routes until 1880, when it was replaced by the railroad.

There are young people today that don’t know what this is, or how to use it.

I can’t imagine the hardships of crossing America in a covered wagon. Rough and tough times for the frontier people.

This is a cool picture they had on display.

I enjoyed looking at this painting.

It looks like this woman is baking something in this photo.

Never a shortage on religious items.

Here’s a nice set of very old silverware from back in the day.

This is Pancho Villa’s death mask after he was shot and killed.

At the end of the second section, they had lots of photographs about things in New Mexico.

The photos were fun to look at.

In a third, smaller section of the museum, I saw this old printing press and had to get a picture.

The museum has some interesting things to occupy your time. The photos you’ve just seen are of the things I thought were most interesting. A lot of the other stuff wasn’t photo worthy.