Tour of Deming NM

Today we decided to take a drive up into the hills north of Deming to see some ancient petroglyphs; the campground had directions to a nearby site. We drove out of town and then took an unimproved road about 10 miles up into the hills. We hiked up to the site but were very disappointed that the site had been defaced and vandalized with graffiti engraving to the point that we could not recognize what was ancient and what was done by the class of 2009 although the new engraving seemed to be oriented toward space aliens visiting the site. We did have a nice drive and hike to a place where there wasn’t another person within eyesight.

Our drive into the hills.

Our view from petroglyph peak, the road in is visible on the far left

The Florida Mountains.

After we got back into Deming we visited the Luna Mimbres Museum which is housed in a red brick building that was built as an armory in 1917. The exhibits were all related to Deming and the area, the amount and variety of items is incredible. We started the tour in the doll room and ended it in the transportation area, in between there were Indian artifacts, household silver and china place settings, crystal and glass work, war memorabilia, western hats, saddles, a chuck wagon, minerals and rocks, artwork, farming and blacksmith tools, and a huge collection of decanter bottles. I’m sure I am missing some of what is in the building, as one person put it “this is amazing”, it’s free and worth a visit at twice the price (donations are accepted).

Some of the Indian artifacts in the Luna Mimbres Museum.