Fort Sumner, New Mexico
Timestamp: Sept 2020.
Access/Roads: Paved. Civilized.
Parking: Private Lot.
Costs: Free.
Hours: 24/7.
Terrain/Weather: Has Four Seasons.
Handicap: Handicap friendly.
Located adjacent to Fort Sumner's Chamber of Commerce and at times can be accessible to the Fort Sumner Historic Site which is the town's main site.
Distance: Appx 950 miles (1,500 KM) from Los Angeles, California.
North of Site: Denver, Colorado @ 500 miles (800KM).
South of Site: Roswell, New Mexico @ 90 miles (145 KM).
East of Site: Amarillo, Texas @ 165 miles (270 km).
West of Site: Albuquerque, New Mexico @ 240 miles (385 KM)
Nearby Attractions:
DT Fort Sumner has many antique/tourist shops and a bunch of bars w/ live music type of things.
Amarillo has Cadillac Ranch & Big texan steakhouse.
Santa Rosa has a Route 66 museum.
Roswell has UFO themed related junk & access to Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands.
Fort Sumner is the official gravesite for William Bonney or Henry McCarty & is famously known as Billy the Kid. A wild west figure that have been glorified & idolized in pop culture and the overall strange mythology that comes from the Wild West Days. Billy the Kid is a legendary gunslinger along the same breath as Doc Holliday. I say this is the "official" site because... Well, it the grave itself might not have the body underneath it. There is a tale of a man who died in Hico, Texas named Ollie "Brushy Bill" Roberts who claimed to be Billy the Kid and died as an old man as opposed to age 21-ish by Deputy Pat Garret in Fort Sumner. The story of Brushy Bill is available here (https://goo.gl/maps/3F7eP5SpVhiVANA69).
The tale or conspiracy between Billy the Kid is more extensive than my synopsis and quite a fascinating tale. The controversy can be laid to rest easily by digging up the grave & doing some testing, but, one of these small towns loses a main tourist attraction. Losing this Billy the Kid allurement will make Fort Sumner, New Mexico & Hico, Texas as another dot on the map except for idiots like myself. There are funny rumors that the bars around Billy the Kid's gravesite was added because wisecracks would dig up the grave, damage the cement and all that. We don't want these type of antics at a cemetary. I find this untrue because the replicated jail cell on top of this grave can be easily removed with some hand tools. The gesture is a longing symbol to show Billy the Kid will spend his afterlife in jail since he was on the run and wanted for many many crimes including murder.
Travel safely
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