Exploring Fort Huachuca

This is the National Historical
Landmark area of the post

We wandered around the base today to check out the points of historical interest. They have the museums hidden - well, at least not easy to find.  We didn't give up and finally located it. We were glad we did.  They have an excellent museum and museum annex.  The main museum's first floor is dedicated to displays and artifacts regarding the Buffalo Soldiers stationed in the West during the early settlement and Indian uprisings. Upstairs we found a gallery of Frederick Remington prints of fort life, the soldiers, horses, Indian scouts, and all things Western. We were quite impressed with the art work this museum houses.  In the annex there is a static display of soldiers, horses, etc., in the fort as well as more very nice Western art work along the walls.  Both museums were very well done and housed in original buildings.   Fort Huachuca has been around a very long time - it was established in 1873.  It was closed for a while after WWII, but reopened in the 1950s.  

 

Entrance

The post cemetery was interesting and informative as well. The old section had soldiers, Indian Scouts, children, and way too many infants. Surprisingly there didn't seem to be any segregation of those resting there.  We didn't go into the new section - they were setting up for a funeral and for some reason seeing graves of recent soldiers is more emotional than looking at the headstones of ones who died in the "old days."  It's more real, I guess, and the latter is history.  Where is the cutoff?  I guess it depends on your age.  For us, probably, the Vietnam Conflict.  Old cemeteries don't bother us -  we enjoy the history on the headstones.  

These graves were all from the 1800s

I liked this sculpture of a
grieving mother and children
dressed in 1800s attire

 

This entrance to the walking trail
is at the end of our street

After our history tour we took Maggs for a walk on the wild side! There's a path to a pretty primitive park area we hadn't explored yet.   We scared up some deer that ran off when we approached. They are Ceous Deer - a small deer from the white tail family.  I almost got us lost thinking I knew an alternate route back to the park, but fortunately Roger has a better built in compass/GPS than I do.  We could have been out there for hours!!!  Maggie had a good walk and her little feet were tired when we finally got home.  She had a long drink of water and crashed for a nap.

The cholla are starting to bloom
although the creosote are still
black and bare

We have no idea what
creature these belong to

Along a dry creek bed

Tomorrow we plan a picnic and a hike into the hills where we are told there are some interesting petrogylphs/rock art.  We should be able to take Maggie with us for the day's outing instead of leaving her alone again.  I hope to have some photos from the trip for you tomorrow night.  

This made us smile!