Census-designated place in Guadalupe County, New Mexico, United States
Census-designated place in New Mexico, United States
Puerto de Luna is a census-designated place (CDP) in Guadalupe County, New Mexico, United States. It lies approximately 9+1⁄2 miles (15.3 km) south-southeast of Santa Rosa on New Mexico State Road 91 and on the bank of the Pecos River. The community is located west of, but not within, the Llano Estacado of Eastern New Mexico and West Texas.
The population was 141 at the 2010 census.[3]
History
The site is reputed to have been visited by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who is believed to have camped here in 1541, on his way east in search of Quivira.[citation needed]
The first recorded permanent settlement was in 1863 when six Hispanic families built a dike on the Pecos to divert water for irrigation and began land cultivation. A post office was established in 1873. A notable settler was Padre Polaco, a.k.a. Alexander Grzelachowski, who originally came to New Mexico at age 27 with Archbishop Lamy and settled in Puerto de Luna in 1874, opening up the mercantile store. In 1891, he donated the land for the county courthouse. and the community became the county seat of Guadalupe County. The community was, however, overtaken by Santa Rosa when the railroad arrived there, and went into decline shortly after. The county seat was moved to Santa Rosa in 1903.[citation needed]
Billy the Kid reportedly ate his last Christmas Eve dinner here in 1880 while being transported to trial in Las Vegas in the custody of Pat Garrett.[5]
The author Rudolfo Anaya references Puerto De Luna in his autobiographical novel Bless Me, Ultima.
The author Calvin Rutstrum bought, renovated and lived in a house here in the 1960s. His book Greenhorns in the Southwest (University of New Mexico Press, 1972) is a semi-autobiographical account of that period.
The roofless shell of the county courthouse remains the largest edifice.
Etymology
Legend has it that Coronado gave the name to the spot where he camped, having seen the rising full moon through a narrow gap in the hills east of the site (English: Gateway of the Moon).
An alternative, more practical name origin refers to the Luna family, who lived at the mouth of Puerto Creek in the 1860s.
Local residents often refer casually to the community as PDL.
