Los Alamos is squeezed into a small space. It is constrained on the south and east by the [Los Alamos National]Laboratory, on the north and west by the forest service. The town has nowhere to expand. It develops whatever land it can for residential, business, and recreational use. Prehistoric and historic sites have been swept away by the need to develop. Few town folk even know about these remnants of our past. Old roads survive because they are in locations seemingly unfit for any other use. They have inadvertently become treasures. With these words, Dorothy Hoard concludes a special glimpse into the history of the people who preceded the present-day residents of the Pajarito Plateau. They were Paleo-Indians, Spanish soldiers, missionaries, U.S. soldiers from Fort Marcy, lumbermen, sheepherders, homesteaders, ranchers, young students and masters, at an isolated school, and finally, scientists who took over the isolation to build the first atomic bomb. All have left their mark, and whether that influence is seen in still-visible wagon wheel ruts or a modern road clinging to the side of a canyon, each has a story to tell. Hoard tells that story through the eyes of one who knows and loves the land of which she speaks.

Historic Roads of Los Alamos (The Los Alamos Story, No. 7)

Dorothy Hoard

History

Los Alamos Historical Society Publications

Peggy Pond Church has been called the First Lady of New Mexican Poetry; 'a significant American voice.' Now her story appears in a biography that traces a historic life through canyons, ruins, trails and tall pines, a great flood and the loss of her home to the Manhattan Project of World War II. Born in 1903 on a ranch in the territory of New Mexico, Church lived in Pajarito Canyon and at the Los Alamos Ranch School before being uprooted during the war to live the second half of her life in Taos, Berkeley, and Santa Fe. Although her poetry has many inspirations and sensitive observations of land and people, she once described it by commenting, 'It's the land that wants to be said.' Church's journey is revealed also in her books of poetry and in her own memoir of Edith Warner, The House at Otowi Bridge. In 1984 she received the Governor's Award for Excellence and Achievement in the Arts and was also named a Living Treasure of Santa Fe. Church also wrote eight volumes of poetry during her life, with many poems still being published. At Home on the Slopes of Mountains is beautifully crafted using Church's poems, journals, correspondence, and interviews with friends, family. Sharon Snyder writes a full-blown, emotional life portrait that presents the essence of the land, the culture, and the history of Northern New Mexico as well as Peggy's sensitivity to it. A must read for literary and women's studies groups, or anyone wanting to know more about 20th century New Mexico as seen through the eyes of a poet, and her biographer.

At Home on the Slopes of Mountains: the Story of Peggy Pond Church

Sharon Snyder

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Books by Los Alamos Historical Society Publications

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Los Alamos Historical Society Publications publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Historic Roads of Los Alamos (The Los Alamos Story, No. 7)

At Home on the Slopes of Mountains: the Story of Peggy Pond Church