Truth or Consequences Tourist Attractions
|
|
Truth or Consequences was formerly known as Hot Springs for the hot waters that flow beneath the city. The town is located just east of Interstate 25 between Albuquerque and Las Cruces. There are a number of health spas where visitors can relax in the hot springs. The name was taken from the radio program, of the same name, which had a live broadcast from the town in 1950.
Geronimo Springs Museum
The Geronimo Springs Museum in Truth or Consequences is named for the Apache warrior who used the hot springs as a gathering place for his followers. Visitors can drink or bottle the water, which flows from a fountain, at no charge. Exhibits within the museum highlight mining, ranching, military and local cultural exhibits.
Ralph Edwards Park
Ralph Edwards Park is situated along the Rio Grande in Truth or Consequences. It is named for Ralph Edwards, who helped change the town's name from Hot Springs to Truth or Consequences in 1950. There are picnic tables, a gazebo, a playground and horseshoe pits.
Callahan's Antique Auto Museum
Callahan's Antique Auto Museum in Truth or Consequences is New Mexico's first auto museum, with a large collection of antique cars from the 1920s through the 1960s.
Visitor Center
The Truth or Consequences Visitor Center is operated by the local Chamber of Commerce.
Surroundings
Truth or Consequences is surrounded by the ghost towns of Engle, Chloride and Chiz.
Caballo
Caballo is in Sierra County, New Mexico, south of Truth or Consequences on NM 187. Caballo is a Spanish word for horse, and there are herds of wild horses in the surrounding Sierra De Los Caballos Mountains. The town was first established by John Gordon in 1908, but many of the original buildings were lost by the creation of Caballo Lake in 1938.
Caballo Lake State Park
Caballo Lake State Park includes 5,300 acres of land and 11,500 acres of water, located south of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The park is known for the bald and golden eagles that migrate through it.
Percha Dam State Park
Percha Dam State Park is a small 80-acres site on the Rio Grande, just below Caballo Lake State Park. There is year-round fishing and camping.
Kingston
Kingston is an old mining town on NM 152, nine miles west of Hillsboro. The town was founded in 1882, and became one of the wildest places in the old west, with more than 7,000 residents and 22 saloons. Today only 32 people live in the town, which has ruins of many old buildings, a cemetery, and the oldest steel deck truss bridge in New Mexico.
Hillsboro
The town of Hillsboro was founded in 1877 when gold was discovered in the nearby Mimbres Mountains. Until 1938 it was the county seat, with a peak population of 1,200 people. There is an Apple Festival each Labor Day weekend, and an old cemetery just outside of town on NM 27.
Black Range Museum
The Black Range Museum in Hillsboro has memorabilia from the early history of the town, including mining artifacts. It is located in the old Ocean Grave Hotel.
Old County Courthouse
The Old County Courthouse in Hillsboro was built in 1932, while the town was still the county seat.
Lake Valley
Lake Valley was founded in 1878 after the discovery of silver nearby. At one time there were 4,000 residents, 12 saloons and three churches. The last residents left in 1994, and the ghost town is now administered by the Bureau of Land Management. There are walking tours which include the old schoolhouse built in 1904.
Winston
Winston is a ghost town, west of Truth or Consequences. Originally called Fairview, the town was renamed after its founder Frank Winston died in 1929. There was once a population of 3,100 people, but only a few families remain today. Buildings include a church, general store, school and the old Winston family home.
Chiz
The ghost town of Chiz was named for the Apache leader Cochise. Located 23 miles from Truth or Consequences, the town has only one family and the remains of the Church of St Gregory, built in 1919-22.
Chloride
Forty miles northwest of Truth or Consequences in Sierra County is the ghost town of Chloride. During the silver mining boom, there were almost 2,000 people living in the town. Today there are 20.
Pioneer Store Museum
The Chloride general store, which was in operation between 1881 and 1923, has been converted by local residents into the Pioneer Store Museum.
Elephant Butte Lake State Park
Five miles north of Truth or Consequences is Elephant Butte Reservoir, the largest lake in New Mexico. It was created by a dam across the Rio Grande built in 1916. The lake covers 36,500 acres, providing opportunity for water sports and fishing.
Engle
There are only a few buildings and residents left in the town of Engle, which was founded in 1879 as a railroad station and cattle town. There is also an old schoolhouse.
Grafton
A few buildings still stand in the ghost town of Grafton, seven miles northwest of Chloride. After a boom in the 1880s, the town quickly began to decline from a peak population of 300 people.
Hermosa
Located 30 miles west of Truth or Consequences, the abandoned town of Hermosa was founded by miners in 1883, only to be wiped out by a flood in 1889. All that remains today are a cemetery and ruins of the old post office and hotel.
Las Palomas
Las Palomas was once the largest town on the Rio Grande, but was relocated following the construction of Caballo Dam in 1938. There is still an active church built in 1945.
Monticello
Fewer than 100 people now live in the town of Monticello, a ranching and farming community established in 1856. There is a cemetery on a hill northwest of town, and a historic plaza with an old church.
Placita
On the Canada Alamosa River, two miles south of Monticello, is the town of Placita. There is a church dating from 1916, a schoolhouse, and some other original buildings.
San Miguel
A ranching community founded in the mid-19th century, San Miguel is located southwest of Cuchillo on Palomas Creek. The coffin-shaped San Miguel Church was built around 1910 on a hill overlooking town.
Cuchillo
The ghost town of Cuchillo still has some of its original buildings, including the Cuchillo Store and the San Jose Church, which dates from 1907.
