When we finished touring the Old Fort Sumner Post Cemetery and the Bosque Redondo Museum, we stopped at the Billy the Kid Museum in the Village of Fort Sumner.

While we were in the museum parking lot, hubs said he wasn’t going in unless they had Billy the Kid’s gun. I was secretly smiling as I went inside to check. Hubs doesn’t own a gun, and isn’t all that interested in them, and he loves museums, so this was no doubt a little ruse so he could rest a bit after the walking we’d just done. He tires easily and one of his knees buckles if he’s walking or standing too long.

After finding out “the gun” was indeed there, I browsed around the gift shop for a bit to give hubs more of a rest.

When I went to tell him about “the gun”, his seatbelt was already unfastened and he was getting ready to join me.

The Billy the Kid Museum in Fort Sumner (in operation by the same family since 1953), originally opened as a small one room space with a few Billy the Kid artifacts. Today, it not only houses all things related to The Kid, but is home to over 60,000 items that show life in New Mexico from the 1800’s and early 1900’s.

Once inside, were surprised at the overall size of the place. The museum is divided into several theme rooms, and also has outdoor spaces exhibiting early farm machinery. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, hubs and I are both avid history buffs, so we were in our glory for the almost two hour stop.

And yes, we saw “the gun” …

Photo Note: I took many photos inside the museum. I’m not sure why I do that but I always do. For people who visit historical museums, the photos will likely depict things they’ve seen before. For people who aren’t interested in museums – they’re usually not interested in photos of historical artifacts either. Keeping those things in mind, I resisted the urge to use a lot of photos in this post. After cropping both of the photos I did use, I did minor post processing in Snapseed for white balance and exposure.

“A museum is a place where nothing was lost, just rediscovered…”

Nanette L. Avery