Willie Lambert’s Route 66 Guides
Historic Santa Fe Foundation has been working in collaboration with Willie Lambert to publish his comprehensive guides on Route 66 in New Mexico. We are so excited to announce that the guides have been published as Route 66: Unpolished and are available as electronic downloads for a sliding scale donation. This project was funded in part by a grant from the Preserve Route 66 Grant Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Route 66 Unpolished: Mesita to East of Budville
Leave the interstate and cruise the next 15 miles on Route 66 through a sliver of the vast lands of the Laguna Pueblo. The Dead Man’s Curve west of Mesita was put in to eliminate a steep original grade close to where the roadside landmark “Owl Rock” is still perched.
Century old postcards of Laguna Pueblo give a glimpse of what can be viewed with respect today. Fenced off and difficult to find fragments of the original alignment frequent the ride toward Budville as rock structures remain and the bridge over Encino Creek and blend into the landscape
Route 66 Unpolished: Milan to Prewitt
This 15 miles of Route 66 cuts west from Milan through the fields that once gave it the title of the “Carrot Capital of the World”. The discovery of uranium down the road at Haystack Mountain led to another boom in the area though it was largely responsible for the demise of the carrot industry. The classic fading roadside murals on Bowlin's Old Crater Trading Post still survive the encroachment of graffiti on the crumbling walls and the treasures of the “Swap Meet 66” just down the road quietly slip away.
Route 66 Unpolished: Cuervo to Tucumcari
Cuervo was finally dissected by interstate 40 & has been referred to for quite sometime as a ghostly town. On the stretch of New Mexico’s eastern Route 66 one drives slow and easy while passing over WPA bridges without anyone else on the road.
The Wilkenson’s place and the remains of The Richardsons Store in Montoya continue to crumble just out of view of a speeding interstate.
Route 66 Unpolished: Tucumcari to Glenrio
Description: Heading east from Tucumcari to Glenrio and the Texas state line one travels through the once lawless Llano Estacado. The Stakes are miles of treeless window swept land. Cedar Hill Station and Auto Court west of San Jon could not survive the coming of the interstate but the flattened oil cans used to shingle its roof can still be seen.
The bridge on the dirt road section from west of San Jon to Glenrio might still be out but once in Glenrio the town's long and ever changing history is shared by two states.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Historic Santa Fe Foundation is excited to announce our collaboration with Willie Lambert to publish his guides on Route 66 in New Mexico.
Many of you might know Willie from his Santa Fe to Romeroville tours in 2022 and 2023, or from his binders sprawled across multiple tables at El Zaguán, San Miguel Chapel, and other establishments along Route 66. Willie has been researching and traveling New Mexico's portion of Route 66 for several decades, during which he has collected over 1,400 historic postcards and used them to recreate photos of sites along the route. These photos are what is left of many places, and Willie’s recreations often depict piles of dirt where an adobe building used to stand, or paint flakes of a once beautiful mural. Willie knows where most of the road bed is from east to west, and is still excited when he discovers new portions.
This grant will support the digitization and preservation of over 30 binders compiled by Willie, which contain a diverse collection of postcards, hand-drawn maps, comparative photographs, coins, and more. Additionally, funding from the grant will help pay for the publication of five booklets based on these binders. Follow our 545 Blog for updates, where we will share stories from Willie's travels along Route 66 as this project progresses, and keep an eye out for more tours guided by him. If you would like to support this project, we are currently accepting donations to assist with the matching funds required for the grant.
ABOUT THE PRESERVE ROUTE 66 GRANT FUND
This project has been funded in part by a grant from the Preserve Route 66 Grant Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Grants from this fund provide support to public agencies, tribal governments or nonprofit organizations to preserve and interpret historic places along Route 66 corridor. For more information on all grant programs from the National Trust, visit: https://savingplaces.org/grants
