From Grants
4. To Santa Fe, via I-40 Heading East, from Grants
Three brothers from Canada with the last name of Grant established a railroad camp about 60 miles west of Albuquerque in the 1880s to build a section of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, and that's how the town of Grants eventually got its name. But the brothers were perhaps better known for their work in Albuquerque, where they launched a newspaper and water works company and built the Grants Opera House. Their namesake city flourished, first as a railroad logging center, then as the country's "carrot capital" when it became an agricultural community. In 1950, the discovery here of one of the largest uranium reserves in the world instantly made Grants a major mining town. The boom lasted until 1983, when a recession shut the mines.
Grants also gained fame as a stop along historic Route 66, which was decommissioned in 1985 and no longer officially appears on the map. But driving I-40 across New Mexico takes you along stretches of the famous Mother Road, which John Steinbeck wrote about in his classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath.
Historic Route 66 carried travelers through New Mexico from Tucumcari, the first major town after crossing the Texas border, to Santa Rosa. There, the original Route 66 took a northern loop through Santa Fe then headed back down to Albuquerque and on to Grants and Gallup before heading west into Arizona. In 1937, however, a realignment of Route 66 bypassed Santa Fe, taking travelers to Albuquerque along a route followed by I-40 today.
The spirit of Route 66 lives on in Grants, Albuquerque, Santa Rosa, Tucumcari and other towns and cities along the old highway's route, where original neon signs, souvenir shops, motels, restaurants and museums preserve its history. Traveling this nostalgic road has become popular again as visitors seek out its remaining portions to experience a beloved bygone era.
Some 8,000 people now live in Grants, which is the gateway to many of northwest New Mexico's cultural and scenic attractions, including the spectacular Acoma Pueblo, about 40 miles southeast of Grants. Known as Sky City, Acoma Pueblo was built centuries ago atop a 357-foot sandstone mesa as a way to defend the village from enemies. Acoma Pueblo and its Spanish Mission church, completed in 1640, are both Registered National Historical Landmarks. Today, about 3,000 people live on or near the pueblo and they gather throughout the year on the mesa-top to observe cultural and social events.
Also nearby are the Laguna Pueblo, about 40 miles east of Grants, and the Zuni Pueblo, nearly 60 miles west of Grants. Laguna today is made up of six villages totaling nearly 8,000 residents while the Zuni Pueblo, with nearly 10,000 residents, is New Mexico's most populated pueblo. New Mexico has 19 pueblos and most of them produce exceptional jewelry, pottery and other traditional arts and crafts.
The country's largest Indian tribe is the Navajo Nation, which extends into northwestern New Mexico about 40 miles west of Grants. The Navajo Nation spreads across 27,000 square miles of northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah and northwestern New Mexico.
About 100 miles to the north of Grants are the fascinating ruins of Chaco Canyon, now a National Historical Park, where ancestors of the Pueblo, Hopi and Navajo people established an advanced civilization of some 5,000 people in the 12th century.
(Where I-25 intersects I-40, pick up Escort Note 1 for I-25 heading North)
Three brothers from Canada with the last name of Grant established a railroad camp about 60 miles west of Albuquerque in the 1880s to build a section of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, and that's how the town of Grants eventually got its name. But the brothers were perhaps better known for their work in Albuquerque, where they launched a newspaper and water works company and built the Grants Opera House. Their namesake city flourished, first as a railroad logging center, then as the country's "carrot capital" when it became an agricultural community. In 1950, the discovery here of one of the largest uranium reserves in the world instantly made Grants a major mining town. The boom lasted until 1983, when a recession shut the mines.
Grants also gained fame as a stop along historic Route 66, which was decommissioned in 1985 and no longer officially appears on the map. But driving I-40 across New Mexico takes you along stretches of the famous Mother Road, which John Steinbeck wrote about in his classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath.
Historic Route 66 carried travelers through New Mexico from Tucumcari, the first major town after crossing the Texas border, to Santa Rosa. There, the original Route 66 took a northern loop through Santa Fe then headed back down to Albuquerque and on to Grants and Gallup before heading west into Arizona. In 1937, however, a realignment of Route 66 bypassed Santa Fe, taking travelers to Albuquerque along a route followed by I-40 today.
The spirit of Route 66 lives on in Grants, Albuquerque, Santa Rosa, Tucumcari and other towns and cities along the old highway's route, where original neon signs, souvenir shops, motels, restaurants and museums preserve its history. Traveling this nostalgic road has become popular again as visitors seek out its remaining portions to experience a beloved bygone era.
Some 8,000 people now live in Grants, which is the gateway to many of northwest New Mexico's cultural and scenic attractions, including the spectacular Acoma Pueblo, about 40 miles southeast of Grants. Known as Sky City, Acoma Pueblo was built centuries ago atop a 357-foot sandstone mesa as a way to defend the village from enemies. Acoma Pueblo and its Spanish Mission church, completed in 1640, are both Registered National Historical Landmarks. Today, about 3,000 people live on or near the pueblo and they gather throughout the year on the mesa-top to observe cultural and social events.
Also nearby are the Laguna Pueblo, about 40 miles east of Grants, and the Zuni Pueblo, nearly 60 miles west of Grants. Laguna today is made up of six villages totaling nearly 8,000 residents while the Zuni Pueblo, with nearly 10,000 residents, is New Mexico's most populated pueblo. New Mexico has 19 pueblos and most of them produce exceptional jewelry, pottery and other traditional arts and crafts.
The country's largest Indian tribe is the Navajo Nation, which extends into northwestern New Mexico about 40 miles west of Grants. The Navajo Nation spreads across 27,000 square miles of northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah and northwestern New Mexico.
About 100 miles to the north of Grants are the fascinating ruins of Chaco Canyon, now a National Historical Park, where ancestors of the Pueblo, Hopi and Navajo people established an advanced civilization of some 5,000 people in the 12th century.
(Where I-25 intersects I-40, pick up Escort Note 1 for I-25 heading North)