New music-art event planned at Fort Stanton
- New walking path will make it safer and easier for locals and visitors to historic Lincoln
Visitors and locals will be treated this year to a new and safer walking path in the historic settlement of Lincoln, and a new arts and music event at Fort Stanton Historical Site.
Regional Manager Tim Roberts, who handles both historic sites for the New Mexico Cultural Affairs Department, told Lincoln County commissioners that even with state budget cuts, crowds are expected to continue stopping and touring the two sites, the most heavily visited in the state.
Work on the walking path is expected to begin in June and finish by October or earlier, he said. “It’s only a 45-day project and there is a chance it could be done prior to old Lincoln Days (in August),” he said. “If not, work will stop one week before and after (that event and then resume).”
The project and others represents an $850,000 investment by the state into the community of Lincoln, into historic 1855 Fort Stanton and for the people of Lincoln County, Roberts said.
He announced that Fort Stanton Live is scheduled for July 8 this year, and as usually will feature music and living history demonstrations at the fort. The new concert event, as yet unnamed, will be June 24, San Juan Day and is “heavily supported” by groups at the state level, Roberts said.
He noted that restoration of doors and windows at the back of the old courthouse in the Lincoln historic site was completed. The courthouse was the site of the jail break of the outlaw Billy the Kid and where he murdered two lawmen. A contract also is being finalized to restore the roof of the Torreon, a round structure in Lincoln built by Spanish settlers in the 1850s, who would flee there for protection against marauding Apache, poking their rifles through slits in the wall to shoot at their enemies.
“I appreciate your enthusiasm and creativity, Commissioner Dallas Draper told Roberts, He said the previous weekend, he attended a presentation and a field trip to the of the John Tunstall murder, the pivotal point of the Lincoln County War. “It was quite an adventure and quite a hike and a lot of history,” Draper said, then joked that Roberts let him wander about a mile down a canyon before retrieving him and reuniting him with the touring group. Roberts replied that he is working with Eco-Servants, a youth group, to improve the trail and ensure another commissioner doesn’t get lost in the future.
Draper said he also was pleased when he brought some friends to Fort Stanton and Lincoln to see Roberts working at the desk in the old courthouse. He asked Roberts to talk about “the Angel Report.”
Frank Warren Angel was a special investigator from the Department of Justice sent in 1878 to investigate the death of Tunstall, an Englishman who opened a store in competition with James Dolan, and other issues. “He submitted his report and within three months, governor was out of a job, as well as the district attorney,” Roberts said. The document now is available at the Lincoln site and he hopes to digitize it in the future.