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Things to do in Roswell
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Bottomless Lakes State Park
The first state park in New Mexico
was the Bottomless Lakes region that was preserved in 1933, and
has become a popular area for scuba diving. The deepest lake is
Lea, which is 90 feet and is the lone lake that is available for
swimming. In the summertime, people come here and rent
paddleboats to float around exploring the magnificent walls of
the canyon. Another lake is Devil's Inkwell, so named because of
the high cliffs that surround the lake and the dark waters that
have turned that way because of algae growth in the stagnant
waters. Lazy Lagoon is encompassed by stinky mud and muck that
is difficult to walk in and not recommended; but the waterfowl
that come here are beautiful to view and watch the antics of
these marvelous creatures. Other activities that are done here
include boating and sailing, picnicking, camping and fishing, as
the lake is stocked each winter with rainbow trout. There are
trails that can be walked, jogged, run or hiked with wonderful
views of the terrain and interesting plants and shrubs that are
indigenous to this area. Another well known gem is the Pecos
diamonds that can be found in the gypsum soil that is found
here, where these "quartz crystals" have become available in the
gypsum soil after it has been crumbled or broken away revealing
the superb prisms that are sealed below. Sitting alongside the
Pecos River, the park is southeast of Roswell, some 15 miles,
and there are actually 9 tiny but deep lakes that lay along the
eastern escarpment of the Pecos River Valley. This is a very old
limestone reef that is like the limestone that can be seen at
the Carlsbad Cavern, some 80 miles down the road. Many years
ago, the limestone began to form caves, which eventually eroded
away so that the caves fell into themselves forming the deep
lakes that are known as cenotes. Almost all the lakes are
encompassed by cliffs, except the Lea and Lazy Lagoon; and the
Lea has a big sandy shoreline on the west side and high rocky
cliffs on the east. It is as if nature decided that it would be
a perfect place for visitors to come and enjoy a swim in the hot
summer days and the people found it and have completely enjoyed
coming here. On the Lazy Lagoon, the cliffs have been eaten away
by the river, and it sits in an old channel of the river. The
lagoon is the biggest of the lakes, and is around 26 acres
around. It looks like a single lake, but there are really three
sink holes that have formed the lake. The water is almost level
with the salt flats around it and is therefore looks rather
shallow; but one of the sink holes goes down some 90 feet.
Devil's Inkwell is only about a third of an acre, and the Figure
Eight Lake is two sink holes that are separated by a small strip
of land that when it rains becomes a large figure eight. The
area has become part of an irrigation system, and the figure
eight is rarely seen since the lakes don't get a lot of rain.
Pasture Lake is only 18 feet deep and the shallowest of them
all; with a circumference of only three quarters of an acre.
Water seeps into the lakes from the ground, and makes all of
them stagnant most of the time. Seven of the lakes are
protected, although with the continued influx of people coming
here to enjoy the sights, fauna and flora and the recreational
activities, garbage is starting to contaminate them. The lake
that is farthest south is the Dimmit Lake, a private lake that
is owned by the Fin and Feather club, which is a local fishing
and hunting club that uses the lake for club members only. There
are four endangered species that can be found or observed here
and they are; eastern barking frog, Pecos pupfish, Cricket frog
and rainwater killifish. The two lakes that are stocked in
winter are the Devil's Inkwell and Cottonwood Lake.
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Roswell Museum & Art Center
The Roswell Museum and Art
Center was started in 1935, by various groups that included the
WPA, the city, the Federal Art Project, Roswell friends of art
and the Chaves County Archaeological and Historical Society.
Opened in 1937, with funds from the WPA as part of their project
to open public art center across the country. It is one of a few
that still exists today in this nation and that is because the
community became so enamored with the museum and center that it
continues on today. Right from the start, it became the
educational and cultural forum for the region and when the WPA
was changed in 1941, the city gained control. Since those early
days, the center has grown to 50,000 square feet, housing 12
galleries devoted to showcasing history and art, the Patricia
Lubben Bassett Art Education Center and the Robert H. Goddard
Planetarium. Its permanent collection is made of fine art and
historical items that show the many areas of the region's
cultural changes in the southwest and the relationship to the
rest of the country. Some of the magnificent collections include
a beautiful collection of 71 watercolor sketches by Peter Moran
from the 1880s that showcase the Pueblo Indian way of life.
Another is the outstanding modernist works that were created at
the Santa Fe and Taos art colonies that have works by Georgia
O'Keefe, Jozef Bakos, Will Shuster, Ernest Blumenschein, Joseph
Henry Sharp, Andrew Dasburg, William Penshallow, Stuart Davis,
Walter Mruk, Robert Henri, John Marin, Fremont Ellis, Victor
Higgins, Raymond Johnson, and Marsden Hartley. The biggest and
perhaps most prominent is by Henriette Wyeth and Peter Hurd with
dynamic works of the traditions and landscaping of the southwest
New Mexico's Hondo Valley. The biggest public collection of
artwork by Taos artist and WPA muralist Howard Cook and
contemporary works from well known local artists Bob Hazous,
Elmer Schooley, Harmony Hammond, Jim Waid, David Reed, William
Lumpkins, Ken Little, Willard Midgette, Stuart Arends, Agnes
Martin and Robert Colescott. There is a superb international
print collection that is from the 16th century to the present
era with significant works by Fritz Scholder, Salvador Dali,
Hans Holbein, Pablo Picasso, Eugene Delacroix, Alex Katz,
Georges Roualt, Albrecht Durer, Robert Indiana and Louise
Nevelson. There is a very special collection of woodblock prints
that were made by E. Boyd and part of the Federal Arts Project.
Among the galleries is the unusual collection of hand made
furniture by the Hispanic artisans that were used in the initial
opening of the museum in 1937.
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Downtown Historic Center
The historic district was
started by the Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico in
1983 and 84 by using a grant from the State Historic
Preservation Division and placed on the list of State and
National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The campus of the
New Mexico Military Institute, Chihuahuita, which is the oldest
village in the area; a few ranches nearby were also added to the
register, although the village was the only one added to the
state's register. The district covers some 40 blocks and has
houses that showcase 22 different architectural designs. The
city's early history can tell why this unique mixture of
architecture happened. In 1885, Capt. Joseph C. Lea platted the
township and created some stability to the area after the
Lincoln County War, and his partner, Horace Thurber, added two
more blocks on the south. During the next five years, four or
five more additions were made to the filing and the district
includes these. The area was first settled in the Pecos Valley
by John Chisum who started the Jinglebob Ranch in 1878, his
company going along the Pecos River as far as a cow could graze;
which was about a 150 miles. He made his headquarters near the
South Spring River, which has dried up now and is about 6 miles
from the small trading post of Rio Hondo that was to become the
city of Roswell. The town made little headway as far as growth
was concerned, because the Comanches of the eastern Pecos and
the Apache on the western side kept marauding the people and
herds. Soon the Lincoln County War erupted and with Chisum, John
W. Poe and Pat Garrett as sheriff, the area began to become more
settled after the demise of Billy the Kid. George Slaughter
brought Hereford cows here in 1898 and Nathan Jaffa sank an
artisan well which created a number of wells to be drilled
throughout the region; helping the water scarcity problem to be
alleviated. In 1894, the railroad came to the area and Roswell
grew to a population of 900 residents. They wanted the railroad
extension to go from Roswell to Amarillo, Texas and it finally
was completed in 1899. This train service brought in many
newcomers from the Midwest, as well as ranchers hoping to lay
claim to the vast lands that were open to cattle. Another
happenstance that occurred during this period was the arrival of
people with tuberculosis that had found that the area and town
were conducive to their health and these people stayed and
helped the town grow. Housing wasn't available for all these
folks coming here, so they were forced to build their own, which
resulted in a number of various architectural styles being
created. Just near the Main Street area, everyone built their
homes, regardless of economic status, so the district became a
hodgepodge of buildings. When Sheriff Pat Garrett shot Billy the
Kid, in Fort Sumner, deputy John W. Poe was with him, and Poe
later was to become an important banker in Roswell, so he had a
beautiful house built for his wife Sophie; it was a Queen Anne
style located on Seventh Street, where it still sits today.
After Poe died, Sophie wrote a book called "Buckboard Days"
which told of their early days in Lincoln County. Most of the
trees, separate living quarters for the hired help and the
carriage house remain there as well. Organizer of the Arizona
Rangers, and owner of the Diamond A Ranch, Capt Burton C.
Mossman would eventually buy the house. A real estate developer
named G. A. Hamilton came to the town for his health and built a
gorgeous Greek Revival house in 1910, and it also still stands
on the northwest corner of the district. He went on to develop a
subdivision on the Berrendo River, which is northeast of
Roswell, and it was here that Dr. Robert H. Goddard would live
and experiment with rockets. On the 400 block of Lea, a two
story hipped box style house was built by C. F. Joyce in 1911,
who was a partner in the mercantile chain of Joyce Pruitt
Company. This district contains over 280 incredible historical
houses that are listed on the state and national registers that
include architectural styles like Tudor, bungalow, Federal,
Mediterranean, Southwest Vernacular, California mission,
Simplified Anne, Italianate and Pueblo revival. The oldest
churches in the city are still in the district including the
Methodist Church that was built in 1888, the Episcopalian in
1899, the Baptist in 1895 and the Presbyterian in 1900.
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