6 Best Sights in Silver City, Southwestern New Mexico

One look at the spires here and you'll figure out how the area came by its name. The unusual rock formations were spewed from an ancient volcano and have been eroded over the centuries by wind and rain into the marvelous shapes there today—some more than 40 feet tall. You've got to walk through the city to fully appreciate the place—and it's a great, easy adventure to have with kids (make sure you wear tennis shoes or hiking shoes). The park has a visitor center, and a large developed campground ($10 to $14) with 9 RV sites with water and electric hookups, 41 camping sites, picnic tables, grills, flush toilets, and showers. This is a great spot to camp, with sites nestled amongst the huge rocks. An on-site observatory regularly hosts star parties.

Established in 1866, Fort Bayard was built by the U.S. Army when it became clear that conflict between homeland Apaches and early Anglo and Spanish settlers would not easily abate. Company B of the 125th U.S. Colored Infantry was first in command, and hundreds of African-American enlisted men, or buffalo soldiers, made their mark here. A huge Fort Bayard Days celebration takes place annually, on the third weekend of September, and visitors can watch re-enactors and learn about this national historic landmark's later life as a groundbreaking tuberculosis research facility; bimonthly tours (reservations essential) are offered.

One of the most visually dramatic ways to reach Silver City is via NM 152, which forms the southern prong of the backward-C-shaped Geronimo Trail Scenic Byway (the northern prong is NM 52, leading into Winston and Chloride). As you're heading south down I–25 from Albuquerque and Truth or Consequences, take exit 63, and follow NM 152 west. It's about an 80-mi drive to Silver City, and you should allow two to four hours, depending on how much you stop to look around—and weather conditions.

This twisting byway provides an exciting link to the Wild West. The remote drive (there are no gas stations) follows part of the route taken by the Kingston Lake Valley Stage Line, which operated when this region was terrorized by Apache leaders like Geronimo and outlaw bands led by the likes of Butch Cassidy. Heading west on NM 152, after about 25 miles you'll come to the mining-era boomtown, Hillsboro, where gold was discovered as well as silver (about $6 million worth of the two ores was extracted). The town, slowly coming back to life with the artists and retirees who've moved in, has a small museum, some shops, restaurants, and galleries.

From Hillsboro, you might consider a brief detour south down NM 27, known as the Lake Valley Back Country Byway. A landmark, west of NM 27, is Cooke's Peak, where the first wagon road through the Southwest to California was opened in 1846. Not much is going on these days in the old silver mining town of Lake Valley—the last residents departed in the mid-1990s—but it once was home to 4,000 people. The mine produced 2.5 million ounces of pure silver and gave up one nugget weighing several hundred pounds. Visit the schoolhouse (which later served as a saloon), walk around the chapel, the railroad depot, and some of the few remaining old homes.

If you're heading southwest from Silver City (or west toward Arizona from Las Cruces), this is a fun stop. Portions of this settlement in the heart of a working ranch just outside the sleepy town of Lordsburg have been preserved as they were in the town's heyday as a gold and silver mining town in the late 1800s. Founded in 1856, the ghost town has been designated a National Historic Site, and original structures such as homes, saloons, and stables still stand. You'll find no snack shops or other tourist amenities in Shakespeare, as owner Janaloo Hill (who grew up on the ranch, and died in May 2005) vowed not to compromise the authenticity of this genuine piece of the Old West. Shakespeare is about 50 miles from Silver City via NM 90 through Lordsburg.

The unusual mansard-roof Italianate-style Henry B. Ailman House, built in 1881, serves as headquarters for the Silver City Museum, whose main gallery mural of the mining and ranching community circa 1882 provides a good overview of the area's colorful history. Displays include pottery and other relics from the area's ancient (and now extinct) Mimbres and Mogollon cultures, as well as a nice lot of items from the heyday of the mining era. From the museum's tower you can catch a grand view of the eclectic architecture around town. The store carries Southwest-themed books and gifts, and the museum also has a local-history research library.

The Western New Mexico University Museum (WNMU) contains the world's largest permanent display of distinctive black-on-white Mimbres pottery (it's especially notable for its crisply painted animal forms). The Mimbres collection—which the museum bought for a remarkable $1,000 from the family of the man who procured most of the pieces by illicit pot hunting—fills the main floor of this 1917 Trost & Trost building that once housed WNMU's science classes and gym. Town history exhibits are displayed downstairs, including a period classroom and the original gym floor. Set on a hill on the west end of town, WNMU's campus offers a nice view of the surrounding mountains and the valley below; the museum's topmost floor is window-lined, and visitors can enjoy the broader view from that vantage point, as well as historic photos and other university memorabilia. Mimbres designs are reproduced on mugs and more in the gift shop.