A trip to Lincoln is like stepping into the past. There are people who live in Lincoln and some places to stay but there are no gas stations, restaurants, or grocery stores. It is a town of museums dedicated to the Lincoln County Wars. Pay one price and visit all the museums to learn the story. If you are an old western movie fan, you probably know about the history here.
We started our tour of Lincoln in the Anderson-Freeman Visitor Center where they have a "Voices frm the Past" museum exhibit and a 20 minute documentary about the history of Lincoln. There is one fee that will get you into all the other open museum buildings.
Of course, it starts with the Indians.
And the arrival of the Army at nearby Ft Stanton.
The Civil War intervened. If you read my post about Ft Stanton, you will know all about this.
Then the Wars over water rights and with the Indian tribes followed.
Murphy and Fritz were given the right to set up as trade posts for both Ft Stanton and the Mescalero Apaches.
Lincoln County became the largest county in the country making it difficult for any kind of law enforcement.
Feuds between Murphy/Fritz and Tunstall/McSween/Chisolm became an all out war.
William Bonney (aka Billie the Kid) was part of the Tunstall group. All out war broke out when Tunstall was murdered.
The Luna-Chavez House shown below was originally owned by Juan Lopez who was father in law to Jose Montano who owned the Montano Store.
You can see a statue of Billy the Kid near the Jacal house by the Visitor Center.
This is a close up of the Jacal so you can see how it was made.
This is the Montano Store which was one of the first stores in Lincoln.
This is the earliest courthouse when Lincoln County was established in 1869.
This building is the Convento which served as a saloon, then a county courthouse, and finally as a Priest's house.
Lincoln has always been home to many hispanics.
This is the inside of the still functioning church.
This building is called a torreon which was one of the earliest structures in Lincoln. It was used for protection with people inside and cattle outside but inside of a stone fence.
An occupied house in Lincoln. People do live here but go elsewhere for gas, food, etc.
Oops, you already saw the inside of this church earlier in the post.
This is the Murphy Dolan store at the other end of town. It was eventually used for county government and judicial purposes. The jail is on the second floor.
Billy the Kid was held here in the upstairs jail.
There is also a bank safe on the first floor.
There is more historical information in this building.
Primary mean of group travel back in the day.
The last trip I made to Lincoln, the old Dolan Home was in use as a homestyle restaurant with two bedrooms available for overnight B&B. they were large family dining tables which were shared by customers. There was a choice of several sandwiches and desserts served on various kinds of fancy china. It was fun and very good but it all ended with covid and there is no place to eat in Lincoln. there is an old coffee shop but you never know when it will be open.
The final building we visited was the Tunstall/McSween Store.
John Tunstall was buried out back.
You can see what was sold in the store.
There is also some more info about the Regulators, a group that was formed after John Tunstall was murdered.
This is the "home" a room off the side of the store.
The history in Lincoln is very interesting especially if you are interested in the old west. There is a lot to see if you visit.
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