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I’ve been obsessed with Billy the Kid recently and since I was passing through New Mexico on my cross-country road trip from California to Florida, I wanted to check out some of the sites Billy the Kid was known for.

BILLY THE KID’S HISTORY

Before I started following Billy’s trail, I did a lot of research on his history as I never truly knew why he was considered a folklore hero. The facts that unfolded as I learned more about him became more and more interesting and I was getting very excited to visit Lincoln County where most of the action happened in the late 1800s.

Billy the Kid National Scenic Byway Visitor Center

If you would like to learn more about Billy the Kid’s history, the movie, Young Guns, is a great place to start. My mom used to watch Young Guns repeatedly when I was growing up because she was obsessed with that movie.

She loved almost all western movies and she would watch the ones she really liked over and over. I’ve seen bits and pieces of Young Guns because my mom had it in the background often, but I never knew the movie was about Billy the Kid. That blew my mind.

Another great way to learn about Billy the Kid is listening to the podcast, Legends of the Old West - Billy the Kid. This podcast series goes into depth with Billy’s history and there are a total of 10 episodes.

So, who is Billy the Kid? His actual real name is Henry McCarty and he was born in New York. His family including his brother, mother, and stepfather, decided to move out west to help with his mother’s health as she was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Billy the Kid picture — The only picture of Billy the Kid

Back in the late 1800s, doctors persuaded TB patients to move out west where there was a drier climate. They also told patients to seek out fresh air and sunlight and live close to nature.

Henry’s family moved to New Mexico and his mother eventually passed away. Afterwards, his stepfather, William Antrim, was almost never home and basically left the kids to fend for themselves.

When Henry was 16, he moved to Arizona and found a job as a cattle rancher. There, he had an altercation with his boss and ended up killing him.

So then Henry ran away to New Mexico and changed his name to William H. Bonney. In New Mexico is where he met John Tunstall and the Regulators in Lincoln County.

Tunstall took Henry in, now known as William or Billy, and became a mentor to him.

During this time in Lincoln County, there was a lot of tension between Tunstall and Murphy. Both men had competing businesses in town and Murphy did not like it since he used to be the only business in town.

They both ended up hiring gangs to protect them and Tunstall’s gang was called the Regulators.

At some point, Murphy’s gang murdered Tunstall and this set Billy off on a rage. He and the Regulators mounted up on their horses to seek out revenge and started killing Murphy’s men one by one.

This resulted in the Lincoln County War, where there was a 5-day shootout between Murphy’s men and the Regulators with Alex McSween, who was a lawyer and Tunstall’s business partner.

Billy the Kid book written by Pat Garrett

Alex and the Regulators were trapped in his house surrounded by Murphy’s men and the army from Fort Stanton, led by Colonel Nathan Dudley.

In the end, Murphy’s men set the house afire and most of the men escaped. Some that were left behind were killed, most notably, Alex McSween.

Eventually, Billy became known as Billy the Kid, the outlaw. He was on the run for maybe 2-3 years before getting caught and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner where he was buried.

Although Billy the Kid killed many people, he was also known as a hero because the people that ran Lincoln County were mostly bad men and the system was corrupt.

Of course, there is more to the story but that would turn into a book, so let me move on to how you can actually follow Billy the Kid’s trail in New Mexico.

LAS CRUCES - OLD MESILLA

Las Cruces is a small city in New Mexico along Interstate 10 and there is a cute town called Old Mesilla nearby. There are a couple of Billy the Kid sites here including La Posta restaurant, where Billy ate, and the gift shop across the street that used to be the jail where Billy was held until his trial.

The gift shop is a noticeable pink stucco building that dates back to 1850. It once housed the Capitol of Arizona and New Mexico and later it was the Doña Ana courthouse.

I did not go inside the gift shop since I had my dog, Kuma, and it didn’t really look like a pet-friendly shop (although I didn’t ask). Plus, I’m not really into gift shops anyway. I just wanted to see the building where Billy the Kid once was.

La Posta restaurant looked lovely, but I did not see any outdoor tables, so I was not able to eat there. I have read rave reviews about the place and I hope to stop by here the next time I’m in the area.

BILLY THE KID SCENIC BYWAY VISITOR CENTER

Before moving on to visit the next Billy the Kid site, I stopped by the visitor center to get some additional information and take a picture with Billy’s cardboard cutout.

The visitor center is 114 miles northeast of Las Cruces (about a 2-hour drive) and it was on the way to Lincoln County, where I was going to visit next.

I wanted to use the restroom here before I moved on to Lincoln County, but at the time of my visit, the restroom was closed to the public due to the pandemic.

If you need to use the restroom, there is a Walmart one mile down the road.

The visitor center is small, but it’s free and there is a fun exhibit where you can walk along the path of the scenic byway. There is also lots of additional information and brochures on things you can do in the area.

The drive is 84 miles and passes through the towns of Ruidoso, Ruidoso Downs, Hondo, San Patricio, Lincoln and Capitan, with an optional side jaunt to Fort Stanton.

The town that I was most interested in was Lincoln since that is where the Lincoln County war occurred. From the visitor center, it was 33 miles, about a 35-minute drive.

LINCOLN COUNTY

This was my favorite part of chasing Billy’s trail as there were many original buildings and structures from Billy’s past.

I stopped by the Lincoln State Monument Visitor Center and Museum first. The man at the desk gave me a map of the area and information on what was open as most of the museums and restaurants were closed.

There are several museums, but there were only two museums open at the time of my visit: the visitor center and the Old Lincoln County Courthouse. Admission to visit the museums was $7.

If you are a resident of New Mexico, I saw a sign that said entrance is free on the first Sunday of the month.

The visitor center’s museum gives you a broad history of Lincoln. It starts from the Native Americans to the U.S. Cavalry to Billy the Kid’s era with Murphy and Tunstall.

Letter by William “Buck” Morton dated March 8, 1878

Once I left the museum, I started walking with Kuma around town. The entire site is only a quarter of a mile, so it is easily walkable. I saw many people driving and hopping in and out of their cars as they checked out each site. Eventually, that’s what I did too.

The place felt like a ghost town because there wasn’t very many people around. I was visiting on a Monday in January and only saw a few people.

Sitting on bench with Kuma in Lincoln — Taking a moment to take in the silence of Lincoln

I stopped by each building and learned a little more about Lincoln County and the people that were involved in the Lincoln County War.

The Tunstall Store is usually a museum, but it was closed. When I peaked inside, it looked like they were working on some renovations.

Right next to the Tunstall Store was a small post office and it’s actually a fully functioning post office. I saw several locals go in to mail something or pick up their mail.

Not too far from the store and post office is the site of the McSween home. There is no longer a house there because it burned down from the Lincoln County War, but since it was a significant part of Lincoln’s history, there is a plaque there explaining what happened.

There were several other buildings in the area that were marked as a Historical Landmark or A Registered Cultural Property of New Mexico. Some of them seemed empty and others were used as offices.

At the end of the street was the Historic Lincoln County Courthouse, which also used to be Murphy’s general store. Before going into this museum, I noticed a long house across the street and a sign that said that this used to be the Old Wortley Hotel.

Bob Ollinger, one of the sheriffs watching over Billy the Kid, was eating here when he heard gunshots from the courthouse across the street. He rushed over to his death at the hands of Billy.

Next to the Old Wortley Hotel is a cute little art and coffee shop. This was the only place open for drinks.

Once I walked into the courthouse, I was in awe of the original wood floors. The woman at the front desk told me that they kept a lot of things in the courthouse museum in its original form as much as they could and the floors were one of them.

She also explained to me that the museum used to be Murphy’s general store on the first floor and also parlor to the right. To the left were Murphy’s offices.

Historic Lincoln County Courthouse Museum

Sign explaining Billy's escape — Billy’s escape

bullet hole at the bottom of the stairs shot by Billy the Kid

And upstairs, before the building became a courthouse, used to be Pat Garrett’s office and a room where Billy the Kid was locked in with handcuffs.

As you walk through the museum, you’ll get the full story of what happened during Billy’s capture and escape.

ADDITIONAL BILLY THE KID SITES

Fort Sumner

Fort Sumner is 139 miles northwest of Lincoln County and this is where Pat Garrett caught Billy the Kid and killed him.

I did not make it here, but from what I learned online, it’s a very small town with Billy the Kid’s tombstone that he shares with his fellow friends and outlaws.

Apparently, the original tombstone was destroyed in a flood in 1889 and 1904 (along with his bones) and then the tombstone was stolen many times over the years.

It was stolen so many times that there is now a huge metal cage over the tombstone to protect it.

Hico, Texas

I discovered Hico, Texas by chance as I continued my cross-country road trip to Florida. I noticed that I was passing through a cute western-themed town and to my surprise, there was a Billy the Kid museum statue and museum here.

I wondered why Billy the Kid had significance here and learned that Hico is the hometown of “Brushy” Bill Roberts, the man that claimed he was Billy the Kid in the 1940s.

According to Roberts, the story that Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Pat Garrett in 1881 is false. He claimed the body buried at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, is actually a man named Billy Barlow.

Roberts' claim was rejected by the governor of New Mexico in 1950, but many believed that Brushy Bill Roberts was telling the truth.