Puerto de Luna is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...

(CDP) in Guadalupe County,

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

, United States. It lies approximately miles () south-southeast of

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

on New Mexico State Road 91 and on the bank of the Pecos River. The community is located west of, but not within, the Llano Estacado of Eastern New Mexico and

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio. No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...

. The population was 141 at the 2010 census.

Demographics

History

The site is reputed to have been visited by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who is believed to have camped here in 1541, on his way east in search of

Quivira Quivira is a place named by Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1541, for the mythical Seven Cities of Gold that he never found. Quivira was a province of the ancestral Wichita people, located near the Great Bend of the Arkans ...

. The first recorded permanent settlement was in 1863 when six Hispanic families built a dike on the Pecos to divert water for irrigation and began land cultivation. A post office was established in 1873. A notable settler was Padre Polaco, a.k.a. Alexander Grzelachowski, who originally came to

at age 27 with Archbishop Lamy and settled in Puerto de Luna in 1874, opening up the mercantile store. In 1891, he donated the land for the county courthouse. and the community became the county seat of Guadalupe County. The community was, however, overtaken by Santa Rosa when the railroad arrived there, and went into decline shortly after. The county seat was moved to Santa Rosa in 1903.

Billy the Kid Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at th ...

reportedly ate his last Christmas Eve dinner here in 1880 while being transported to trial in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in the custody of Pat Garrett. The author

Rudolfo Anaya Rudolfo Anaya (October 30, 1937June 28, 2020) was an American author. Noted for his 1972 novel ''Bless Me, Ultima'', Anaya was considered one of the founders of the canon of contemporary Chicano literature. The themes and cultural references of ...

references Puerto De Luna in his autobiographical novel '' Bless Me, Ultima''. The author

Calvin Rutstrum Calvin Rutstrum (October 26, 1895 – February 5, 1982) was an American writer who wrote fifteen books, most relating to wilderness camping experiences and techniques. Most of his books were written at his cabin on Cloud Bay, Ontario. "His wilde ...

bought, renovated and lived in a house here in the 1960s. His book ''Greenhorns in the Southwest'' (University of New Mexico Press, 1972) is a semi-autobiographical account of that period. The roofless shell of the county courthouse remains the largest edifice.

Etymology

Legend has it that Coronado gave the name to the spot where he camped, having seen the rising full moon through a narrow gap in the hills east of the site (English: ''Gateway of the Moon''). An alternative, more practical name origin refers to the Luna family, who lived at the mouth of Puerto Creek in the 1860s. Local residents often refer casually to the community as PDL.

Education

Its school district is

Santa Rosa Consolidated Schools Santa Rosa Consolidated School District, also known as Santa Rosa Consolidated Schools (SRCS), is a school district headquartered in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Within Guadalupe County, New Mexico, Guadalupe County the district includes Santa Rosa, A ...

References

External links