Today and tomorrow are travel days. My next stop is Rockport TX, which is a little north of Corpus Christi on the Gulf coast, some 650 miles from Carlsbad. I'll have one overnight on the road somewhere so my first leg will be from Carlsbad NM to as far as I can go.
On the road, I stopped for a while in Pecos TX to visit the West of the Pecos Museum. This is museum housing local historical artifacts. It's in the Pecos Saloon and the adjoining Orient Hotel. Pecos TX started as a station on the Texas and Pacific Railway when it was built in 1881. In 1896, the Saloon was built by an ex Texas Ranger. The two story red sandstone building had the Saloon downstairs with bedrooms upstairs, just as you would imagine a Saloon from this era. In 1904, the three-story Orient Hotel was added to the side. This building was used as a hotel until the mid-fifties.
In the mid-1980's, the local historical society took possession of the buildings and using local donations, has restored them to near historical condition. The saloon has been restored as a saloon. The upstairs rooms of the saloon and the bedrooms of the hotel have been restored and are used as display rooms to show countless period artifacts both collected and donated.
A
view of the mirror behind the bar in the Saloon. The original stairway to
the bedrooms can be seen in it as well as a wall of pictures of period
locals. This picture is a good example of not taking the time to pay
attention to the whole composition. See the blue Rubbermaid lid to the right
of the cash register? That's definitely not period. Except for the
Rubbermaid lid, this is the original furniture in the room - and there are
original bullet holes where two gunfighters were killed. The sign says,
"NOTICE - All firearms are expected to be deposited with the proprietor."
A "Cowboy" display - supposed to depict a "typical" bunkhouse setting.
I think I like this kind of quick justice - A reward poster from January 14, 1933 - obviously before we had so many lawyers protecting the criminal element.
The poster offers a reward for dead bank robbers only.
"The association will not give one cent for live bank robbers. They are rarely identified, more rarely convicted, and most rarely stay in the penitentiary when sent there . . . ."
A kitchen display in one of the hotel bedrooms.
One of the outside displays. Designed to work with the merest "whiff" of a breeze, this windmill has many more vanes than most.
Apparently the purchasers of this technology didn't get the bang-for-the-buck they expected, as this is the only one I've seen so far.
After seeing a few of these local museums, I've concluded that although mildly interesting, they don't vary much in content - they're all pretty much the same - a collection of artifacts from local estate auctions and out-takes from Granny's attic. After about an hour here it's back on the road again!
Friday night I stay in a little town called Junction TX. Back on the road the next morning, I make it to Rockport TX by 230 pm. Just down the road from Rockport is the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge - my last photo destination for this trip.