New Mexico’s Majesty, Albuquerque and Santa Fe

                  The earliest archeological evidence of human habitation in New Mexico (NM) dates from 25,000 B.C. At that time the Sandia people migrated into the region developing crop cultivation, architectural techniques, weaving and pottery making through the centuries and between 1200-1500 A.D. the Pueblo Indians founded villages, along water routes in the area. First contact with Europeans occurred in 1536 when Cabeza de Vaca and Estevanico, a black enslaved explorer, reached southern N.M. Juan de Onate established the first Spanish capital in 1598 in the Royal Province of New Mexico. Gov. Pedro de Peralta established a third capital in 1609, after the others failed, in Santa Fe. www.newmexico.org

Mexico claimed independence from Spain in 1821 and in 1846 NM, which also encompassed Arizona and portions of southern Colorado, Nevada and Utah, was annexed to the US. NM, as it exists today, was granted statehood in 1912.

                New Mexico is a cultural and historic gem with opportunities for adventure travel and active tourism for all ages and boasts large numbers of sacred places that one may, respectfully, visit. Native Americans considered sites sacred based on tradition, ceremonial use and spirituality and once recognized as sacred they remain so for perpetuity. These sites are often identified by their location near prominent geographic features.

Making the most of a trip to NM may appear daunting. Visitors can plan their own route, wander with a purpose or take designated touring routes. Route 66 National Scenic Byway runs approximately 236-miles west to east across the state on what is basically I-40.  The Trail of the Ancients NM Scenic Byway, in the northwest, features prehistoric sites. El Camino Real, The Royal Road, was created in 1540 and is the oldest and longest historical trail in this hemisphere. It facilitated trade 1600-miles from Mexico City, Mexico to Santa Fe, NM and today parallels I-25 and State Road 14,The Turquoise Trail, linked Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

In 1706 the Bosque Grande de San Francisco Xavier would become the village of Albuquerque. It was a small trading area that boomed after the California discovery of gold. The Confederates occupied the city during the Civil War for 2-months. www.visitalbuquerque.org

                  Albuquerque is home to the International Balloon Fiesta, the world’s largest hot air balloon rally. More than 600 balloons are launched over a 9-day fiesta period. The event has taken place on a 78-acre field since 1972. Balloons weigh approx. 400-lbs and their direction, speed and distance is determined by the wind. This is an unparalleled experience and it is never too early to plan your visit. www.balloonfiesta.com

The Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum is adjacent to the launch site. The museum walks you through the history and science of ballooning with the use of dioramas, photographs, hands on activities, artifacts, photo ops and a 4-D movie. Exhibits begin with the first flight and continue through16 galleries. www.balloonmuseum.com

Golden Crown Panderia is an exceptional restaurant and bakery that specializes in New Mexican cuisine influenced by Native American cooking. Heritage grains are used to create the NM pizza that was created here and their featured state cookie, the biscochito. All food is made of local ingredients and there are more than 40 beers on tap. You can order a portrait made of bread and their famous bread turkey with a stuffed cavity. www.goldencrown.biz

                  The Turquoise Trail is the most scenic route between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The trail is 62-miles of small towns, historic sites, hiking options and panoramic views. Just prior to entering the trail at Tijeras, at I-40 exit 170 on Route 66, driving eastbound you will enter a short stretch of road known as The Musical Highway. If you travel at exactly 45 mph rumble strips 2.4-inches apart play “America the Beautiful”. www.thesingingroad.com               

           

                  Tinkertown Museum is one of the 10 best small museums in the country. Ross Ward carved miniatures for 40-years. The carvings represent slices of American life and many are animated. Tours are self-guided. www.tinkertown.com

                   Madrid is an old mining town that is filled with quaint and unique shops. Once a ghost town, it is now a trendy arts destination and the set of several movies including Wild Hogs. The Madrid Old Coal Town Museum relates the town’s mining and movie history. The Mine Shaft Tavern, a historic landmark, serves great food in a comfortable atmosphere and doubles as The Red Pony in the Longmire series. www.visitmadridnm.com

                  As early as 900 AD there is evidence of native turquoise mining in Cerrillos and it continued to thrive until the early 20th-century. The town is still considered the turquoise capital and this is the place to purchase souvenirs. While there you can visit the mining museum, petting zoo and roam the town and see excellent examples of authentic adobe structures. Some Young Guns scenes were set in Cerrillos . www.cerrillosnewmexico.com

The Spanish built a market square, now Old Town Plaza, where the Santa Fe Trail culminated. The 1610 adobe Palace of the Governors is part of the Museum of New Mexico. It is the nation’s oldest continuously occupied public building. Highlights include period rooms and the state’s first printing press. www.palaceofthegovernors.org

The adobe La Fonda Hotel is situated on the plaza and is renowned for its service, accommodations and artworks. Each headboard is hand painted in a nod to regional folk art. It has always been the place to stay and such luminaries as John Kennedy have stayed there. www.lafondasantafe.com

Southwestern cuisine is the oldest indigenous cuisine in the country and features beans, rice, corn, tomatoes and red or green chili. Café Pasquals, named after the saint of Mexican kitchens. The cuisine is organic, locally sourced and focuses on regional dishes. www.pasquals.com

Meow Wolf began in Santa Fe and has quickly become a phenomenon. This interactive art journey takes you inside a 70-room Victorian house where a crime has been committed. As you wander from room to room you can open drawers, watch videos, climb into bed and generally gather clues. This is out of the box entertainment. www.meowwolf.com

The Natchez Trace Parkway (part two) W. C. Handy/ Muscle Shoals

                  Eighty-seven miles from Tupelo along the Natchez Trace Parkway is the city of Florence, Alabama. The land, once part of the Chickasaw Nation, was sold off as soon as the last treaty ceded the land. The city’s architect, Ferdinand Sannoner, was tasked to name the city in 1818 and he chose Florence after the city of his birth. You should begin your visit in the $2-million Visitor’s Center with exhibits and information to enhance your stay. www.visitflorenceal.com

                  W.C. Handy, “The Father of the Blues”, was born in Florence in 1873 in a one-room cabin. He was not the first to play the blues but he was the first to write down and publish this “new” form of music that blended religious and secular styles with worldly themes. His works, Beale Street, St. Louis and Memphis Blues influenced other musicians and popularized the genre.

                  The W. C. Handy Birthplace, Museum & Library honors the man, his accomplishments and his legacy. The site was originally funded by Handy in 1954. The complex now consists of his birth home, museum, Black Heritage Library and an extensive collection of memorabilia and items that belonged to Handy, many donated by Handy and his family. Highlights of the collection are the restored cabin, his brass trumpet, handwritten sheet music and the piano on which he composed “St. Louis Blues”. The site is listed on the Blues Trail. Florence’s 2018 W.C. Handy Music Festival will be staged July 20-29. The 10-day festival has been held since 1982. www.wchandymusicfestival.org 

               To tour the Alabama Music Hall of Fame is to walk through the state’s music history beginning with the lobby’s bronze star homage to Alabama’s music influencers. The stars lead to the Hall of Fame Gallery, which features portraits of Inductees painted by Tuskegee artist Ronald McDowell. Memorabilia from many Alabama Music Achievers resides in the gallery filled with memorabilia, dioramas and outfits of featured artists. Sequential galleries include Popular Music, Country Music, Muscle Shoals, Gospel Showcase, Alabama Songwriters and a complete recording studio where visitors can record their own song. The objects on display are awe-inspiring and include the group Alabama’s Tour Bus and Commodore’s stage outfits. www.alamhof.org

While W.C. Handy gave birth to the blues the adjacent city of Muscle Shoals took music to a new level and it is internationally recognized as the place that rocked the world. Two of the most influential recording studios are located there and they are both open for tours.

Rick Hall and two partners founded Florence Alabama Music Enterprises (FAME) recording studios in 1959. FAME’s first hit came in 1961. The Allman Brothers, Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett recorded hits here, along with numerous others. www.fame2.

The Swampers, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, established their own studio, Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, in 1969 in an old coffin factory. Their first client was Cher, followed by Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. The studio has been restored to its former glory with the assistance of Dr. Dre. www.msmusicfoundation.org

                  Before you rejoin the Natchez Trace Trail be certain to stop in Stagg’s Deli. This family-run market now serves made-to-order meals. The Stagg’s hamburger is rated #4 in North Alabama’s Top Cheeseburger poll.

                  Franklin, TN is approximately 115-miles north of Florence on the Natchez Trace. The city was founded in 1799 and named in honor of Benjamin Franklin. It is a stop on the music trail and is renowned as a place where visitors can hear live music every night. Downtown Franklin’s Great American Main Street is filled with unique shops, eateries and historic properties. A complete list of venues, festivals and special events is available online. www.visitfranklin.com

A circular brass time capsule, engraved with “COU”, is imbedded center stage in The Franklin Theatre and it is indeed a center of the musical universe. The restored theater was constructed in 1937 and closed in 2007. It reopened in 2011, on the same footprint, and now hosts more than 600 events annually. It has been deemed the “greatest small theater venue in the country”. The balcony, built originally to accommodate segregation laws of the era, now features a clubhouse. The Franklin was redesigned like a recording studio, with no reverb, and $2-million in audio and lighting equipment. Tours are offered. www.franklintheatre.com

                  A few miles from Franklin, just off The Trace, is the village of Leiper’s Fork, established by settlers with Revolutionary War land grants in the 1790s. The village is a National Historic District and a popular dining, shopping and entertainment destination. Puckett's of Leiper's Fork is an absolute must. This grocery store morphed into a restaurant and music site in 2002. The food is delicious, the people are friendly and the music is awesome. www.puckettsgro.com, www.visitleipersfork.com

                  Nine-miles from the northern end of the Natchez Trace Trail stands the Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge, the nation’s first double arch bridge and the first segmentally constructed concrete arch bridge in the country.  It is 1,572-ft. long, 145-ft. high and offers panoramic views. www.scenictrace.com

Natchez Trace Parkway, Tracing the Legends, Elvis in Tupelo

“Trace” is a French word for animal track. The fabled Natchez Trace was created centuries ago by bear, deer, bison, etc., as a migratory path to locate food sources, water and salt licks. Paleo-Indians — who migrated into the region — followed this footpath when traveling and hunting. The earliest documented European explorer, Hernando de Soto, arrived in 1541 and was met by native resistance that lasted more than 200 years. The Trace linked settlements in Kentucky, Ohio Valley and Tennessee with the southern region of the Mississippi River. (www.nps.gov/natr).

Today, the 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway follows the footprint of the original historic path that runs through three states from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. Along the road, mileposts indicate sites of historic events, individuals and seven Native American mound sites. Visitors can also enjoy 2,202 plant types, 364 types of wildlife, 12 neighboring state parks, 17 types of birds, 15 nature trails, 205 mammal and fish species, and a plethora of outdoor activities. 

In 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt approved the construction of the Natchez Trace Parkway. It was completed in 2005. This iconic drive has the distinction of being a National Scenic Byway, an all-American road and designated portions are listed as part of The Gold Record Road on The Americana Music Triangle and The Blues Trail.

The Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center, located at milepost 266 in Tupelo, is an important stop. Here you can obtain all the information necessary to pick your path. The center offers a 12-minute orientation film and exhibits on all aspects of the Trace.

I began the drive in Tupelo, Mississippi, near the Trace’s midpoint. In 1859, the existing settlement of Harrisburg was renamed Gum Pond and relocated nearer to the railroad line. It was again renamed Tupelo after the native name for a type of tree. (www.tupelo.net).

On January 8, 1935, Elvis and Jessie Presley were born in a 2-room cabin constructed by male family members. Jessie was stillborn. The family was evicted in 1937, but remained in Tupelo until Elvis was 13. The foundation of Elvis’ music was established in Tupelo, shaped by country music radio, his home church, area Black churches and interactions with blues musicians in the Shake Rag neighborhood. His first 1945 radio performance resulted in a prize of $5.00. In 1948, the family packed up the car and moved to Memphis for greater opportunity.

Elvis Presley’s birthplace complex consists of 13 sites including buildings, memorials, historical markers, movies and exhibits. Self-guided tours begin at the Walk of Life, a circle paved with granite markers denoting significant points in his life until age 13. The $180.00, two-room Birthplace is in the circle’s center. The shotgun house has been restored and contains period furnishings. Other highlights include the relocated Elvis’ Childhood Church, the museum, a statue entitled “Elvis At 13,” story wall and “Memphis Bound,” a replica of the 1939 green Plymouth the family drove to Memphis. (www.elvispresleybirthplace.com).

Tupelo Hardware Co. has been family-owned for 90 years and is the place where Gladys Presley purchased her son’s first guitar. Visitors can purchase souvenirs and hear to a recounting of the sale. A replica is on display. The instrument was not his first choice and legend has it that Gladys apologized for not being able to afford what he wanted. His alleged reply, “That’s alright, mama.” (www.tupelo-hardware.myshopify.com).An overlook was recently created with benches, interpretive information and a sculpture of a milk-crate-seated 11-year old Elvis in front of a standing, caped Elvis at the height of his worldwide popularity. “Becoming” was unveiled in 2015 on a site where Elvis played as a child.

For a time, the Presley’s lived in the Shake Rag Black community north of Main Street. Music filled the enclave and Elvis was, no doubt, influenced. So many important musicians were in the area that it is a site on the MS Blues Trail.

Johnnie’s Drive In is said to be the oldest restaurant in the city and a place where Elvis liked to dine. It is affordable, the food is good and, if you are lucky, you can sit in the Elvis Booth. (908 E. Main St.).One of the premiere stops on the Natchez Trace route in Tupelo is the Tupelo Automobile Museum, a private collection of more than 100 antique, classic and collectible vehicles in a 120,000 sq.-ft. display. Self-guided tours are chronological and highlights include a Tucker, a Duesenberg, a unique pizza delivery car and cars owned by BB King and Liberace. A Lincoln owned by Elvis is displayed in an area filled with Presley memorabilia and a complete set of his movie posters. Information on individual cars is available through audio and video. (www.tupeloautomuseum.com).

The Blue Canoe is a must.  The restaurant features live music and one of the “Top 10 Burgers” in the state. 

The heyday of The Trace was 1785 to 1825, before steamboats. Goods were transported by flatboat down the Ohio to Natchez and New Orleans. Goods were sold, boats were dismantled, the wood was sold and workers walked back north along the Natchez Trace. Crime was rampant and tales of ghosts, murders and hangings abound. Meriwether Lewis, traveling on The Trace in 1809, stopped for the night at an inn and was either murdered or committed suicide. He is buried along the road.

SUPER TRAVEL TIP:

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