Friday, July 25

Up fairly early so we could get ready to go to another town to tour attractions. After a breakfast of Sis's banana bread, blueberry muffins, and a variety of fruits, we took turns getting dressed and ready.


Headed to the other town, about 35 miles away, around 10 a.m.


Our first stop was a brothel turned visitor's center. The Victorian house was selected in 1973 for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places
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The furnishings inside the building are much the same as when the madam owned it. In 1992, the building reopened as a Visitor's Center, where tours of the rooms are conducted by docents.




The town where the brothel is located was once one of the wildest in the Southwest. The likes of James Dalton, the Younger Gangs, and Belle Starr were outlaws who frequented the town. This brothel wasn't the only one in town, and one night in 1910, a freak accident happened when an oil storage tank near the houses exploded, engulfing brothels in flames. The incident became known as "the night of the lingerie parade," since "ladies" of the houses ran out into the street in their unmentionables. The house we visited was spared from the fire, though.




Life, we were told, was full of song, dance, gambling, and "other pleasures." Champagne was chilled in a bathtub upstairs and served at no charge. The house features a player piano, the first in this town. There are several exits in the house...designed for men to escape when the house was raided. One room features a pair of men's boots, and clothing, as if the owner has recently fled the house.




The ladies of this house were known as "daughters of joy," the most refined and healthiest of the town. Proof of their health was certificates issued by the state, which the girls prominently displayed above their beds. At the end of the tour, Mother, Sis, and I were given certificates of health and told we could return anytime for a job. "We don't pay anything, but we have a lot of fun," the docent said.




From the brothel, we went to a national historic site that included a building that housed a barracks/courthouse/jail. Because we have a Golden Age Passport, we were admitted free...otherwise, the fee would have been $16.




The second floor features what was called a "Hell-On-The-Border" jail. A journalist of the day said, "This dark, crowded underground hole is noisome with odors of every description...horrible with all horrors - a veritable hell upon earth."



Upstairs, too, is Judge Issac C. Parker's courtroom. He was a reformer who had a reputation as the "hanging judge." It is said that this was an unfair term, though, because he tried to rehabilitate prisoners, and he made the court system honest. But no federal judge hanged more criminals.


On the grounds is a replica of the gallows, which today featured a rope and noose. Information at the site stated that there is only a rope and noose on the anniversary days of when there was a hanging. Today was one of those days.




Tickets were sold to hanging, and large crowds vied for them. I can't understand why people viewed hangings as an entertainment event.




Before we toured the site, we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the grounds. We'd brought along pimento cheese sandwiches, chips, and puddings. The birds were interested in our lunch, hoping we'd drop something for them, so Hubbie crumbled tortilla chips and scattered them on the ground. This suited the birds just fine, and we enjoyed watching them. We also enjoyed watching a train, with a bright red engine, slowly pass very close to the picnic area.




From this area, we went to a nature center...once we found it. The maps provided at the visitor centers are just not adequate, so thank to me, we headed down a street that I thought was supposed to go past an airport, and then on to the road we needed, but it did not. A deer with twin fawns leaping across the road made the detour worth it, though.




Hubbie finally had to ask for directions at a gas station. At last, we found the nature center, and spent some time browsing the exhibits that focus on a variety of animals and birds of the area.




After this, we were ready to head back to camp. We got back mid-afternoon ready to nap. Later, for supper, we had deli meat sandwiches on rye bread, with baby Swiss cheese, lettuce, Vidalia onions, and tomatoes, and a side of macaroni salad.




Son, Daughter-in-Law, and two great-grandsons arrived afterward. They had already eaten supper, but the boys wanted a sandwich, so I fixed some for them. Son spent a time setting up their pop-up camper, then we enjoyed sitting around outside and visiting until bedtime.




It was a good day, but an exhausting one, so we were ready for bed by 10 p.m.