NM Methodist Heritage-1

We took a "Caravan Heritage Tour" in northern NM on Friday and Saturday. A brief report. (We didn't take careful notes, so some of the history herein is a bit approximate.)

A total of twelve of us from various Methodist churches showed up for the start of the caravan in Espanola, at the McCurdy School and the adjacent Santa Cruz United Methodist Church. Here is where the Evangelical United Brethren Church, which merged with the Methodists in 1968, started a mission school in 1912. First HS graduating class was in 1926 - six students, all of whom went to college. The 2006 class had 26 students, all of whom are currently in college. We were told many teachers in the Espanola and vicinity schools are McCurdy grads, so continue to have a positive effect on youth in the Espanola Valley.

Some campus pictures:

the first campus building


first chapel, now the art building

Next stop was Alcalde UMC, the second EUB school and church started in the area.

A few more miles up the Rio Grande valley our next stop was the Velarde UMC. A church and school were built here by the Baptist Church in 1903. The history is not clear, but there may have been a killing that led to the site being sold to the EUB Church as a church and school. It provided a second McCurdy campus -- when they separated boys and girls. We had a great lunch here of posole, beans, and red chile.

Next was about a 1.5 hr. drive to the Vietnam Memorial near Angel Fire. This is a very moving and somber memorial, started as a memorial to one young man from NM who died in Vietnam, now more of a national shrine. It just recently became a NM state park and the ranger in charge obviously feels very deeply about his and the state's responsibility. Said some Vietnam vets on motorcycles made it clear that "You'd better not mess it up, or ... ."

Last stop of the day was the ghost town of Elizabethtown. The group got separated so those of us without our leaders -- who went miles beyond E-town before realizing they'd missed it -- didn't get quite the intended experience. This was a gold rush town right after the Civil War. All that remains is the walls of a hotel (picture below is from website). It's important in Methodist heritage because the first Methodist church in NM was built here in 1870, by Rev. Thomas Harwood, who led the Methodist effort, primarily among the Spanish-speaking population for about 40 years.

Because of some hard feelings soon after, the source of which are described later, Harwood was warned not to come to E-town. He resolved to, anyhow (saying, in his history of this era, approximately, "I fought with Sherman. ... Why should I cower before this bunch of lowlifes?"). A soldier friend gave him a revolver to carry and he made his next and subsequent visits safely.

Most of us spent the night in nearby Eagle Nest, and all had a nice dinner together at Texas Red's.

Saturday -- part 2

Cheers,

Rob and Susie