Teepee Curios in Tucumcari, New Mexico, by Kathy Alexander.
Maxwell Statue in Cimarron, New Mexico. Interestingly, the statue was built for Henry Springer, who said, “Statues are for dead people.” So, the artist dedicated it to Maxwell instead.
How Hot Springs, NM, Became Truth or Consequences
The Roswell Incident and the International UFO Museum & Research Center
Smokey Bear Historical Park, Museum & Grave in Capitan
Tiny Town – Art That Dies to Live (no longer there)
Snakes Alive in Albuquerque
These days, there is pretty much a museum for everything, including the Rattlesnake Museum in Albuquerque’s Old Town. Tucked away among the galleries and boutiques, this museum might be small, but it’s certainly big enough to be called home to over a hundred rattlesnakes of more than 30 different species.
This diverse collection includes exhibits of snake science, culture, art, and mythology alongside the creepy crawly critters themselves. And if that isn’t enough, the snake gift shop offers all manner of rattlesnake gear, T-shirts, fangs, skin, books, and more.
Though this particular traveler finds it extremely creepy, director Bob Myers says that very few people balk at the entrance or refuse to approach the snakes behind the glass.
Myers conceived the idea with two objectives – to help people overcome their fear of rattlesnakes and to educate them on their influence on our lives.
The snakes come from all over North and South America, and each is housed in a vivarium with natural “furnishings” native to its environment.
As visitors move down the corridor, peering at the snakes, many of the creatures greet their arrival with a steady buzz of rattles at work, coming from such species as the canebrake, northern black-tailed, desert sidewinder, tiger rattlesnake, and many, many more. These crawly critters come in various colors, from green to pale yellow to black, gray, and albino.
When you’ve had your fill of the “real” thing, you can also check out a collection of snake beer, snake flags, snake photos, snake games, snake jewelry, snake kits, snake pottery, … It’s endless, but not snakeless!
Myers, a former biology teacher, says he has enough snake stuff to fill a building ten times the museum’s current size and hopes to expand one day.
Contact Information:
American International Rattlesnake Museum
202 San Felipe NW, Suite A
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104-1426
505-242-6569
Tiny Town – Art That Dies to Live
Gone now, Tiny Town in 2006.
(Tiny Town no longer exists, but we wanted to keep its memory alive for those who’ve seen it). Not so long ago, just north of the ghost town turned artist colony of Madrid, sat an unusual array of bones, discarded toys, bottles, old cars, and other cast-off material that a local artist had created on an acre of the Lodestar Ranch.
As you entered this quirky exhibit, a sign proudly displayed, “If it isn’t broken, dead, or rusted, well, I just can’t use it.“ As the sign implies, a short sojourn through this roadside display turned up strange displays in this ever-evolving miniature ghost town.
Created by Tammy Jean Lange, known familiarly in the area as Tatt2 Tammy, for her years as a tattoo artist, her specialty was creating art from “road kill.”
A chopper motorcycle made of bones and old bicycle parts sat atop an old trailer painted to look like brick. The curious traveler can find more collections of bones, antlers, and skulls hanging on metal poles and wooden stumps.
“Skull Art” at Tiny Town, once located just north of Madrid, New Mexico. Photo by Kathy Alexander, 2006.
Lange actively searched for road kill as a source of bones, so much so that she encouraged area locals to alert them to new finds, which she used for her most “special” art. When alerted to a new “find,” she was happy to retrieve the animal carcass she had buried so it could decompose. Later, she dug it up to clean and bleach the bones.
Earlier reports by travel writers describe this acre as having its saloon, church, courthouse, and jail; rivers made of broken glass; and roads made of tarpaper, complete with yellow lines. However, when Legends of America visited, there was little sign of the acre of haphazard material resembling a town. Perhaps this is because several years ago, an art scout came upon Lange’s town and arranged to have much of it boxed and shipped to the Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
This was the jumping-off point for success, as the artist now sells many of her creations in local shops. A reader in 2015 told us that Tiny Town disappeared sometime after our visit in 2006. For many travelers through this part of New Mexico, Tiny Town sticks in our memories of the quirky road fun that once was.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated March 2025.
Also See:
Offbeat Roadside Attractions, Trivia, & More
Ghost Towns & Mining Camps of New Mexico
See Sources.