A Different View of Los Alamos

One of the places that was on my list to visit while in the Santa Fe area was the Bandolier National Monument. Did you know that the main difference between a national park and a national monument is who established it. Only Congress can establish a national park while a President can establish a monument but they are basically managed exactly the same. So don't pass those monuments by.....stop and take a look. That is exactly what we set out to do when we headed north to Bandolier. When we arrived in the area, we found that we had to stop at the White Rock Visitor's Center that was not even in the park. Things went downhill from there.

Apparently, the park considers September summer not fall so you are required to take a shuttle bus into the park. They had no idea when the next shuttle would arrive. The lady at the desk was very flustered because she really had no idea what was going on. It seems that a construction project on the road heading toward the park was started that morning with no warning to the park or the Visitor's Center.  Shuttles were forced to wait about 45 minutes each coming and going so they were completely off schedule. Thus they didn't know when they would have another shuttle. She finally told us that we probably would have next to no time in the park once we actually got there because they had to allow extra time to get out of there. Her recommendation was to visit elsewhere in the area. She said we were very close to Los Alamos. we decided to head there instead. The traffic heading out of the town was horrible but going in was okay. And it was getting later in the day.

Most people recognize Los Alamos in connection with the Manhattan Project where the world's first nuclear weapons were established. Los Alamos is actually built on four plateaus. The first occupants of the area where the Keres speaking Native Americans around the 10th century. By 1300, Tewa settlers were predominant but they were driven out Navajo and Apache raids and drought.

It was getting too late in the day to see the Los Alamos National Labs most people associate with the area so we decided to see whatever else we could see.

It wasn't easy to find our way around due to the way the town is built on several plateaus but we finally found the downtown section by this lovely park.

We looked across the road and found a museum that we thought might be intesting.

It was open but only for another half hour and we are frugal ladies so we were debating whether paying the entrance fee would be worthwhile. A lovely older lady saw us outside and invited us to come in saying she never charged anyone coming this late in the day. We were so glad we stopped there as it was very interesting.

We learned that homesteaders used the land for ranching in the late 19th century. They built simple log cabins they used only during warm weather when they brought their livestock to grave. In 1917  Harold Brook sold part of his land and buildings to Ashley Pond II, a Detroit businessman who founded the Los Alamos Ranch School. There was a rolodex with cards showing graduates of the school and most were from wealthy well-known families back east.

The Big House was built as a huge dormitory for the students between 1917 and 1948.

The Fuller Lodge was completed in 1928. It held the dining hall, staff and guest quarters, and an infirmary.

It is a unique building built with giant logs stacked vertically instead of the traditional horizontal logs.

This is the back of the building. Look at those log pillars holding up the edge of the roof.

We were allowed to go inside the building as well where you can see the logs just like on the outside.

This is one of the guest rooms.

There were other interesting buildings on site like the Romero Cabin which was one of the log cabins used by the earlier settlers.

We also found more information about the earliest inhabitants.

The Ranch School built the houses on bathtub row to house faculty. Other than one women's dormitory, these houses had the only bathtubs in town.

We also learned more about the Manhattan Project Era.

During World War II, the United States Department of War exercised eminent domain over the Ranch School and all other remaining homesteads in the area in 1943. The school was allowed to finish the current semester and then they were required to close and leave without telling anyone why they were closing the school. We saw the actual letter and it was very clear. Facilities for research and development were quickly built and scientists and engineers from all over the world were brought in to work on the secretive Manhattan Project. All information about the town and project were very secretive and Los Alamos was only known by the name Site Y or The Hill. Supplies brought in were falsely labeled as common items and all outgoing correspondence by the residents was censored by the military. No information about the Manhattan Project was released to the public until after the bombing of Hiroshima. I have seen a movie about the project but seeing the actual documents and learning about the school was eye opening.

It turned out to be a very interesting day after all even though it wasn't at all what we planned.

One should always be flexible and you will always find something interesting. This was the trip down from the plateau a completely different way from how we arrived. The scenery was spectacular.