New Mexico Roadside Oddities & Unusual Attractions

Teepee Curios in Tucumcari, New Mexico by Kathy Alexander.

Teepee Curios in Tucumcari, New Mexico, by Kathy Alexander.

Maxwell Statue in Cimarron, 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.

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The Roswell Incident and the International UFO Museum & Research Center

Smokey Bear Historical Park, Museum & Grave in Capitan

Snakes Alive in Albuquerque

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.

Included in this diverse collection are exhibits of snake science, snake culture, snake art, and snake mythology right 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 high on the creepy scale, director Bob Myers says that there are actually very few people who balk at the entrance or refuse to go within striking distance of the snakes-behind-glass.

Myers conceived of the idea with two objectives – to help people overcome their fear of rattlesnakes and to educate them on the influence these snakes have on our lives.

The snakes represented come from all parts of North and South America, each 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 also come in a variety of 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 current size of the museum 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 broke, dead, or rusted, well I just can’t use it.” As the sign implies, a short sojourn through this roadside display turned up all manner of 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.”

Atop an old trailer, painted to look like it’s made of brick, sat a chopper motorcycle made of bones and old bicycle parts.  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, which she then 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 own 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.

Evidently, this was the jumping board for success, as the artist now sells many of her creations in local shops. We were told by a reader in 2015 that Tiny Town went away 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 2024.

Also See:

Offbeat Roadside Attractions, Trivia, & More

New Mexico Route 66

New Mexico Legends

Ghost Towns & Mining Camps of New Mexico