Kit and Carol on the Road

Tuesday we spent a delightful day exploring old town Silver City. We started at the town's historical museum where we learned about "The big ditch". In the late 1890's there was a lot of flooding in the area due to location, excessive rainfall, and the removal of trees on nearby hills. The Big flood literally came roaring down Main Street wiping out homes and businesses and leaving behind a deep channel where the street once was. It was not rebuilt but Bullard Street slightly uphill became the new Main Street and is indeed where the galleries and restaurants are found today. The Big Ditch has a nice walkway and now a prime tourist attraction for the town. The strange thing is that after nearly a century, flooding still continues and summer monsoons send water cascading down the streets. Which is why many of the curbs are 12-18 inches above the street.

The town is in the process of filling empty spaces with murals and mosaics. The photos below were from the mural along the big ditch but we found others in out of the way places--many still incomplete. We had a good conversation with a realtor doing a big remodel of an old building. And the young woman behind the desk at the museum was our waitress for dinner that night. Most of the shops are galleries and many were closed when we were there.


Carol Harma--from my iPad