Tour Fort Stanton & Lincoln Historic Sites After Dark!!

October 4th, 2017

(Santa Fe, NM) – For the first time ever, Fort Stanton Historic Site will open the main hospital building constructed in 1936 to the public. Members of the Lincoln County Paranormal Historical Society will be onsite to discuss their previous investigations at Fort Stanton.

The Fort Stanton hospital tour is being offered during the upcoming Fort Stanton and Lincoln Historic Sites After Dark! These two one-of-a-kind nights are Friday, October 27 from 6-9pm at Fort Stanton After Dark! and, Saturday, October 28^th from 6-9pm at Lincoln After Dark!

“There is something surreal about being in Lincoln and Fort Stanton after nightfall,” said Tim Roberts, Regional Manager for Lincoln and Fort Stanton Historic Site. “The connection to the past seems more tangible and it is very easy to blink and imagine yourself stepping back through the shadows and into the past.”

During 160 years in operation, Fort Stanton’s unparalleled service to New Mexico included time as an Army post, tuberculosis sanatorium, internment camp, and correctional facility. The gates at Fort Stanton are open every day for visitors, however few get to experience the fort after dark.

During this event visitors can explore the grounds and buildings of Fort Stanton, interact with costumed living historians, storytellers, and investigators from the Lincoln County Paranormal Historical Society. The self-guided tours will begin at 6pm and end at 9pm. Cost is $5 per person, kids under 10 are free.

With infamy gained through the Lincoln County Wars, and the lives of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, the history of Lincoln, New Mexico is mired with acts of revenge, tragic accidents, vigilante justice, and senseless violence. Between 1870 and 1886, more than fifty people met a violent end along this quarter-mile long stretch of dusty road. This fact led President Rutherford B. Hayes to declare Lincoln’s main thoroughfare as “The Most Dangerous Street in America.” Hundreds more were killed throughout the region during a time when feuds were most often settled at gunpoint, lawmen were oftentimes involved with the criminals they swore to apprehend, and danger lurked around every one of life’s corners.

Delve into this dark past during the Murder and Mayhem tours through Lincoln on Saturday October 28th. Guided tours will start at 6pm, 7pm, and 8pm and the cost is $5 per person, kids under 10 are free. Space is limited so please call to reserve your tickets for these events, 575-653-4025  

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Image(s): All photos by Kenneth Walter

About New Mexico Historic Sites:  http://nmhistoricsites.org/ -- On March 14, 1931, the New Mexico Historic Site system was established by an Act for the Preservation of the Scientific Resources of New Mexico, to "declare by public proclamation that historic and prehistoric structures and other objects of scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the State of New Mexico, shall be state monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof such parcels of land as may be necessary to the proper care and management of the objects to be protected." Under the direction of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, six of seven sites are active and open to the public: Fort Sumner Historic Site/Bosque Redondo Memorial, Coronado,  Fort Selden, Jemez, Fort Stanton and Lincoln. The El Camino Real Historic Trail Site closed in 2016 until further notice. In 2004, the historic Barela-Reynolds House and Property in Mesilla, was designated a state historic site upon its donation to the state by the John Paul Taylor family. Mr.& Mrs. Taylor will retain a life estate on the property that will not be open to the public until their deaths. Events, news releases and images about activities at New Mexico Historic Sites, and other Department of Cultural Affairs divisions can be accessed at media.newmexicoculture.org.