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Santa Rosa

When Hispanics settled in the vicinity circa 1865, they occupied both banks of the Pecos River. The west village was known as Agua Negra Chiquita and the east village, Eden. Circa 1890, both settlements took the present name, Santa Rosa (elevation 4,620 feet or 1,409 meters), after the first saint canonized in the New World. When Billy the Kid rode north from Fort Sumner, the only Pecos River villages he mentioned frequenting were Puerto de Luna (10 miles south of Santa Rosa) and Anton Chico (38 miles north). The Guadalupe County seat, Santa Rosa is a Route 66 treasure. It's also the home of Blue Hole, a fresh-water spring popular among scuba divers, including those of the Santa Fe-based National Park Service's Submerged Cultural Resources Unit (the folks who mapped and photographed the U.S.S. Arizona in 1983 and the Confederate submarine, the H.L.Hunley in 1996). The City of Natural Lakes, Santa Rosa has 21 motels, 19 restaurants, and one private recreational vehicle park. Fort Sumner is 45 road miles (72.4 kilometers) away, Las Vegas 63 miles (101.4 km) away, Santa Fe 107 miles (172.2 km) away, Albuquerque 114 miles (183.5 km) away, and Roswell 129 miles (207.6 km) away.

Santa Rosa Visitor Information Center
244 S. Fourth, Santa Rosa, New Mexico 88435
(575/472-3783)