Southern New Mexico Travel and Tourism Information: Activities, Attractions, History, and Culture - Articles -

Victoria Louise Massey

no@spam.com (Phyllis Eileen Banks) — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 16:23:24 PDT

Her name was Victoria Louise Massey.She was born in Midland, Texas in 1902.

But her musical career began in 1918 in Roswell. She dropped the name "Victoria" andformed a band with her father, Henry Massey, her husband, Milt Mabie and her two brothers, Allen and Curt Massey.At that time it was called the Massey Family Band but later it became Louise Massey and the Westerners.Their home at 209 W. Alameda Street was modest and attractive.It was here that the Redpath Chautauqua auditioned the group.

The Chautauqua Caravans signed up the nation's artists, actors, actresses, musicians, and speakers and then took them on tours to small towns and sparsely populated areas all across the United States.President Theodore Roosevelt called the annual Chautauqua "The most American thing about America."It was our radio, TV, theater rolled into one in those days.

The group was taken to Kansas City and coached for a few weeks.Their style was a lilting kind of western music and Louise would never call it "hillbilly."She composed My Adobe Hacienda with Lee Penny and it was a "crossover" hit, listed on both "hillbilly" and pop charts simultaneously, and was on the Lucky Strike Hit Parade for 11 weeks.Other of their well-known songs were:South of the Border, When the White Azaleas Start Blooming,In a Little Spanish Town, Ramona, and It Happened in Monterey.Louise's repertoire included many songs in Spanish that were very popular.

Roswell Symphony Orchestra

no@spam.com (Phyllis Eileen Banks) — Thu, 23 Jan 2003 03:07:07 PST

Now in its 38th year, the Roswell Symphony Orchestra's 60 members come from all the major cities within a 200-mile radius of Roswell: Lubbock, Amarillo, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Las Cruces, El Paso, Portales, Alamogordo, the states of Texas and Colorado, and, of course, Roswell.

Robert H. Goddard, space pioneer

no@spam.com (Phyllis Eileen Banks) — Tue, 21 Jan 2003 03:43:28 PST

Space of all kinds surround Roswell. Wide open spaces, Robert H. Goddard's space experiments, and the crash of a UFO. Has the beginning of space exploration here been overshadowed with all the hype of the UFO crash in 1947? Probably. At the Houston Space Center and Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center, Robert Hutchings Goddard is known as the Father of Space Exploration.

Westcraft Metal Arts of Tatum

no@spam.com (Phyllis Eileen Banks) — Sun, 12 Jan 2003 04:02:13 PST

Whether you approach Tatum, New Mexico from east, west, north or south you immediately notice the artistic metal signs on ranches, businesses and street signs. Each of them is a product of Westcraft Metal Arts, a three-generation family-owned business. The street signs were a gift to the City of Tatum. O. J. Welch, known as Tiny, began the business as a hobby twenty-seven years ago when he retired from being a school teacher and minister. His son Jerrell joined him in 1982. “Tex” is his nickname and his motto is “When God gives you talent, use it, don’t lose it.” And he has been using his artistic talent in designing metal art since joining his father. Then in 1994 his son Ron became a part of the team. Ron’s wife Sherry operates the front, the customer service area

Celebrating Leap Year Bithdays at the Leap Year Capital of the World-Anthony, New Mexico/Texas USA

no@spam.com (Phyllis Eileen Banks) — Sat, 11 Jan 2003 04:06:19 PST

Anyone who was born on February 29 must definitely feel cheated out of having a regular birthday party on their special day. One person, living in the two-state city of Anthony, NM/TX, did something about it. And in doing so brought a special tourist attraction to her home town. In 1988, Mary Ann Brown, a 1932 Leap Year Baby, formed the Worldwide Leap Year Birthday Club. She took her idea to the Anthony Chamber of Commerce and proposed her city claim the title "Leap Year Capital of the World." The Chamber followed through and sponsored a festival to celebrate this unusual date. The then-Governors Garrey Carruthers, New Mexico, and William B. Clemens, Texas, joined in proclaiming that title for Anthony. Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico read it into the Congressional Record on October 14, 1988.

Make a Date with Route 28 - the O�ate Trail

no@spam.com (Phyllis Eileen Banks) — Sat, 11 Jan 2003 03:58:23 PST

For those who like to avoid the Interstates and travel the narrower, more quiet highways, New Mexico Route 28 is a lovely, relaxing trip. Begin your trek on this highway at Old Mesilla southwest of Las Cruces. The highway is east of the Rio Grande at this point, but a few miles south it crosses the great river and you are on the west side of it . . . Designated as the Oñate Trail, it is part of the route Don Juan de Oñate took into New Mexico 400 years ago.

My House of Old Things

no@spam.com (Phyllis Eileen Banks) — Sat, 11 Jan 2003 03:52:45 PST

Located two miles off U. S. Highway 54 to the east, this large eight-room railroad depot displays the history of a thriving town's brief life and economic demise. It was built in 1902, the same year Ancho was established.

Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park{$.EM$}where the wild things are

no@spam.com (Phyllis Eileen Banks) — Sat, 11 Jan 2003 03:14:13 PST

The flora and the fauna come together in the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park at the north edge of Carlsbad, New Mexico, on U.S. Highway 285. It takes visitors through the diverse Chihuahuan Desert, the largest in North America, that spans Southeast New Mexico into the rugged terrain of the Guadalupe Mountains and Mexico. The Park is located on top of the Ocotillo Hills overlooking Carlsbad and the Pecos River valley.

Museum Hopping in Southeast New Mexico

no@spam.com (Phyllis Eileen Banks) — Sat, 11 Jan 2003 02:39:53 PST

Museums are history lessons for those who have lived through that history and those who are too young to have experienced it. When you see how our ancestors lived it doesn't give credence to the term "the good ole days." It is, however, a window through which we can view the past. The Roswell Museum and Art Center provides that window in the Rogers Aston Gallery of American Indian and Western Art. That art includes clothing worn, implements, tools and other artifacts used during that era.

Gran Quivira - a part of Salinas National Monument

no@spam.com (Phyllis Eileen Banks) — Fri, 10 Jan 2003 23:31:31 PST

The Spanish gave this Anasazi village the name of Pueblo de Las Humanas (a thriving pueblo) when Oñate first approached it in 1598 to accept the oath of allegiance to Spain. Largest of the Salinas pueblos, it was occupied for nearly nine centuries, 800 A.D. to 1672 A.D. Later, Spaniards called it Gran Quivira, the object of Coronado's and Oñate's futile search for gold.