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Take A Peek At Los Alamos, New Mexico

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Advertising Los Alamos

March 22, 2024 /

Advertising is both simple and complicated these days. Sure. Almost anyone can do some basic graphic design and slap an ad on social media. Making a 3 minute video is easily accomplished on your phone. But trying to actually get the word out to a specific market when folks are being flooded with so much information every second of the day takes thought.

How much more thought would it have taken to advertise an exclusive boarding school for boys? Then add in the fact that the Los Alamos Ranch School was in the middle of nowhere. We are still in the middle of nowhere. But life before Google Maps, satellite imagery, and in an age when newsprint ads had to be physically sent to a printing office would have made things even more difficult!

So how did the Los Alamos Ranch School get the word out? Brochures. Lots and lots of brochures. While some of these have survived time and are preserved deep inside the Los Alamos History Museum Archives, Ashley Pond Junior’s first brochure in 1917 carried the title, “An Outdoor School for Boys”. And that is how they sold the school.

There was no doubt that attendance was a major concern of the ranch school. The program was certainly worth the pricey tuition. In 1935, Los Alamos was the first western boarding school to have an examiner on the College Board. Art Chase was the first to serve on the English Board, followed by Harry Walen. In 1926 and again in 1936, a graduate of the Los Alamos Ranch School was ranked #1 in the freshman class at Princeton.

Anecdotal tales from graduates of the ranch school recall the individualized educational opportunities. “Virgil in the Wilderness” when students trekked into the mountains to learn Latin or read poetry. When they were encouraged to expand their minds while using their hands. Laboratory equipment was in short supply, but the Los Alamos Ranch School Masters were young, intelligent, and always finding ways to demonstrate concepts in the real world with equipment handy around the ranch.

School Masters were recruited from the best graduating college classes around the country. Men like Lawrence Hitchcock and Art Chase set a precedent for Masters to continue studies in their field. They would leave the ranch school for a semester or two, or perhaps a shorter time, and do advanced work in their field. Then they would return and share what they’d learned with the students. It was a varied curriculum, and yet the very way this was set up advertised the Los Alamos Ranch School from coast to coast. Our graduates were showing up in college lecture halls with robust health, great minds, and a desire to learn and put that education into practice. It made for the best kind of advertising!

And the rest of the advertising was done via photographs. Photos in magazines Large photo spreads in newspapers and brochures. Photos of the ranch students were sold and used as postcards and holiday greeting cards. And why not? This is still happening today! How many times do you travel up or down our Main Hill Road and see folks in the pullouts taking pictures with whatever device they can lay hands on?

Most of the photos used to advertise the school featured the boys outdoors in dramatic scenery. Most were student photos or those taken by the Masters while out on patrols or camping. All are absolutely stunning.

So next time somebody wants to know what’s so great about Los Alamos, just whip out your phone and take a picture for them. Our dramatic scenery, amazing history, and long standing tradition of outdoor pursuits makes this a special place to live. I feel lucky to be a part of this community and when you’re ready to join me, give me a call. I’m your hometown real estate broker and I’d love to talk Los Alamos real estate with you!

Ashley Pond, New Mexico & the Pajarito Plateau

March 15, 2024 /

Ashley Pond is something most of us take for granted. It’s a place we gather. It’s a huge part of our community and it’s the central focus of quite a lot of life in Los Alamos. Sometimes we just call it “the Pond”. Truthfully, were it not for Ashley Pond the person, (Ashley Pond Junior of course!) we wouldn’t be living here on the Pajarito Plateau enjoying a not necessarily unusual snow day in March.

I’ve been digging into Los Alamos history a lot lately because we all seem fascinated with it and I find myself intrigued about exactly how our wonderful town seems to exist when it would be almost impossible to simply stumble upon this area on accident. This has led me to some rather interesting parallels between Ashley Pond and Los Alamos and the Pajarito Plateau as a whole.

Ashley Pond Junior was the only surviving son of Ashley and Harriet Pond. That’s not all that unusual for the time period. Children’s health was a national and global concern at that time. Ashley Junior had health issues from the beginning, but his parents were determined to throw their considerable resources at his health issues to give him the best chance to be their surviving child.

Ashley Senior was a lawyer. When Ashley Junior was born in 1872, his father was a director of the Michigan Central Railroad. He was also the chief midwestern counsel (lawyer) for Cornelius Vanderbilt. Ashley Senior was said to be stoic, businesslike, and totally lawyer like in personality. His surviving child was the polar opposite. He was honest, eager, gregarious, and often became the target of unscrupulous business schemes because he had a core belief in the inherent honor and fair play of others. His personal philosophy was that everything in life could be boiled down to two things. Right or wrong. This was a philosophy he brought with him to New Mexico and the Los Alamos Ranch School.

The fact that Ashley Pond Junior was the polar opposite of his stoic, lawyer like father is only one reason why the journey he made through his life is so very parallel to the one that Los Alamos itself has made.

Ashley Junior’s first experience in New Mexico happened around 1899 or 1900. In 1898 he joined up with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders and had hopes of going to Cuba to see action. Instead he wound up taking care of the horses in Tampa, FL because he became deathly ill with typhoid fever and was considered too sickly for active duty. His father sent him to a ranch near Catskill, NM. Catskill is now on the register of historic places in NM.

The only thing remaining of the original town in Colfax County are 25 brick structures shaped like beehives. These charcoal ovens are the only remainder of an enormous charcoal manufacturing operation. Charcoal had to manufactured in large quantities for metal smelting operations going on across the nation. There were 9 lumber camps in and around the Catskill area and the pine was cut down to fit inside the ovens as part of the charcoal manufacturing process. I can only imagine how the wild terrain, enormous lumber operation, ranching, and the connection to steel mills back east affected Ashley Pond Junior.

It didn’t take Pond very long to embrace life in New Mexico to the fullest. 30 year old Ashley Pond Junior fell in love with the 17 year old daughter of a Watrous rancher named Hazel Hallett. The couple married in 1903 and Peggy Pond was born right away. She was the eldest of three Pond children and the most well known here in Los Alamos because of her enormous contribution of photographs, books, information, and other history of our area.

The Pond family didn’t last long in Watrous. Ashley Junior was all set to start a school on ranch land he’d purchased in the area, but a flood on the Mora River wiped him out. This brief setback caused him to return to Detroit where he accepted a position as a vice president for Pontiac.

It’s hard to reconcile the idea of our Ashley Pond running a company like Pontiac. Marriage to Ashley Junior was difficult. Hazel often took the kids and went to live with her family as Ashley tried one venture or another. Most of his dreams collapsed and almost all of them involved New Mexico.

He ran a farm in Roswell, NM, which sounds a bit ambitious if you’ve spent much time down there in the wind, sun and sand. The family lived in a metal building which Hazel tried to spruce up with family antiques and imported rugs.

Meanwhile, Los Alamos wasn’t in much better shape. The Ramon Vigil Land Grant encompassed 32 thousand acres of grass and wooded land on the Pajarito Plateau. This land grant itself has come under scrutiny multiple times, (this eventually affected the building of Pajarito Acres too!) the grant had been purchased by midwestern based investors in the 1880s who essentially stripped the land of its resources through lumbering and overgrazing cattle. In 1900 Harry Buckman logged the same land for his lumber company, establishing the town of Buckman in White Rock Canyon as a shipping point. By 1903 the landscape was mostly tree stumps. Homesteaders had been on the Pajarito Plateau for decades by then but Harold H Brook and several investors purchased the land grant but never got around to doing much with it before going broke and dumping the land on a Santa Fe bank.

This is when Ashley Pond Junior and the Pajarito Club came on scene. (more about that HERE) Ashley Junior was determined to make the Pajarito Plateau his haven in New Mexico and he did everything possible to make that happen. It’s so incredible how similar the journeys of the land and the man seem to be. Ashley Junior’s Los Alamos Ranch School grew and thrived for twenty-five years. Compared to the others who owned or worked the land before he came on scene, that was an enormous amount of time.

Ashley Junior’s determination, passion, and dreams were the thing that caused Los Alamos to bloom. Historians have credited his willingness to think outside the box, his ability to charm those around him with his genuine enthusiasm and honor code, and his networking capabilities as the reason behind the school’s success. He integrated himself and the Los Alamos Ranch School in the community of the Pajarito Plateau. Homestead families were a huge part of the ranch school’s day to day running. The families in the Espanola Valley were part of that community as well and in return they became invested in the future of Los Alamos as well. As they still are today.

I think it’s really important to remember that Ashley Pond and his right hand man AJ Connell didn’t close the Los Alamos Ranch School because it failed or because it had run its course. The Parker Schools, Ashley Junior’s inspiration for the Los Alamos Ranch School, are still in operation today. It’s entirely reasonable to think that had Robert J Oppenheimer not been just as obsessed with New Mexico as Ashley Pond Junior, he never would’ve picked the ranch school as his Manhattan Project site. Had Oppenheimer not picked Los Alamos, the ranch school might very well still be in operation. How is THAT for an alternate timeline plot?

In short, what this means is that the longest standing traditions and purpose in Los Alamos are health and learning! No wonder we’re a top contender for the healthiest place to live in America. It’s just who we are! And when you’re ready to join our community, give me a call! I’m a hometown Los Alamos girl and I’d love to talk Los Alamos housing with you.

The Pajarito Club

March 8, 2024 /

There’s no doubt that the name “Los Alamos” conjures up visions of mushroom clouds, atomic bombs, and science (always science!). But if that’s where you start, you’re missing so much!

Before the labs, before the ranch school, there was the Pajarito Club. The club got it’s somewhat official start in 1914 when Ashley Pond and his business partners took an option to purchase the 32,000 acre Ramon Vigil Land Grant from a Santa Fe Bank.

The bank had acquired the land after several previous owners had more or less lost interest in it. “Lost interest” is a simple way of saying that the plateau land had been purchased by midwestern investors in the 1880s and had since hosted cattle and timber operations (including the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad) until it the final business, the Ramon Land and Lumber Company failed and left the land in the possession of the bank.

Ashley Pond approached his lifelong friends, Henry Joy and Roy Chapin about purchasing the land. Joy and Chapin brought in Paul and David Gray and created the Pajarito Land Corporation. The business then purchased the Ramon Vigil Land grant for $80,000. In the initial purchase, Pond was only able to chip in $8000. This lack of capital on his part would give his vote less value with his partners and later played a big role in the short lifespan of the Pajarito Club.

During their respective childhoods, the young men involved in this venture had spent a good amount of time the Huron Mountain Club in Michigan (the club still exists today). The club had provided outdoor activities like hunting and fishing as well as land for its members to have a cabin with all of the modern amenities. These were wealthy families enjoying a refreshing weekend in the country. You might imagine that life on the Pajarito Plateau was not what these folks expected.

Pond was the on site manager of the Pajarito Club. He settled his camp in some buildings leftover from the lumber company days. The idea was to have a clubhouse and a few cabins for guests to enjoy. Architect IH Rapp was hired to design the structures. He was well known for his work on the territorial mansion and the New Mexico Military Institute. The clubhouse Rapp created for the Pajarito Club had much in common with the work he did for the St Vincent’s Sanatorium in Santa Fe.

Things were difficult from nearly the beginning. Chapin and Joy were only able to come to the club two or three times during its existence and the Grays didn’t visit at all. This meant they had very little understanding of the difficulties Pond was experiencing in maintaining a hobby ranch in the middle of nowhere. In the beginning they were hauling water by hand from a nearby creek!

The only improvements the partners were willing to agree to without argument addressed the water accessibility issues. When Pond wanted to purchase 200 head of cattle, build barns to store grain, and plant crops, the partners felt he was being extravagant. They didn’t seem to understand that without cultivating these resources on Club land, there would be no food to eat!

In the end, the threat of war caused Ashley Pond’s partners back east to lose interest in the Pajarito Club venture. The club was only active for a period of two years. But the result was critical to the development of the hometown we know and love today. If Ashley Pond had not been the managing partner of the Pajarito Club, he wouldn’t have met Clara and Templeton Johnson, nor would he have met H H Brook of the Los Alamos Ranch. Both Brook and the Johnsons became instrumental in the realization of Pond’s dream of a ranch school. Had things not happened in the way that they did, it’s likely that the Manhattan Project would not have landed here on the Pajarito Plateau.

So next time you’re cruising past Ashley Pond, remember that the man who inspired the name is also the man who’s intense love for this region and his dogged determination made our lives here possible! As always, thanks to the Los Alamos Historical Museum Archives and the Peggy Pond Church Collection for photos and information, as well as John D Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich for their book about the Los Alamos Ranch School, available for purchase through the Historical Society. And when you’re ready to purchase your own piece of the Pajarito Plateau, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos real estate with you!

A School with Nature as a Textbook

February 23, 2024 /

The title of this post, “A School with Nature as a Textbook” sounds like a fairly modern notion, doesn’t it? Outdoor schools, Montessori Educational principals, Nature Preschools, and outdoor classrooms are things we tend to consider as new and innovative changes to “traditional” educational models involving cavernous halls filled with students listening to a lecture given by a professor, a teaching assistant, or even a recorded lecture or seminar.

What if I told you that the phrase “a school with Nature as a Textbook” was a phrase used by a Boston based newspaper to describe the Los Alamos Ranch School in the early 1900’s? Many of us know that the Montessori method has been around for “awhile”, but did you know that Maria Montessori opened the first Montessori School “Casa de Bambini” in Rome on January 6, 1907?

Here in the United States, our Los Alamos Ranch School and so many other similar schools came about because of a man named Colonel Francis Wayland Parker. He founded a school in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois in 1901. The Parker School (formally called the Francis W Parker School) is still in operation today as one of the premier educational facilities in the US.

According to Parker, “A school should be a model home, a complete community, an embryonic democracy.” The Francis W Parker School’s website states:

Since its founding, Francis W. Parker School has educated students based on a philosophy that aims to support their growth and development by making them aware of and responsive to the fundamental needs of society.

The school’s philosophy became known in the 1900’s as “the Parker Method”. Schools advertising this educational philosophy began to pop up all over, but the one that impacted Los Alamos was the San Diego Parker School. 100 year later, the school is still operating today and includes two more campuses, one a “lower” school for younger students and another that offers bilingual education.

When the Los Alamos Ranch School was no more than a spark of an idea in Ashley Pond’s mind, he was a guide and camp host at the then Pajarito Club, (more about that in a future post). During the summer of 1915, Pond hosted the Johnson Family at the Pajarito Club. Templeton and Clara Johnson lived in San Diego with their two sons Winthop and Alan. The boys had just begun attending the San Diego Parker School, which Clara Templeton had founded after being less than pleased with the educational opportunities then available to her sons. Pond was fascinated by Clara Templeton’s “progressive” educational program. He’d been longing to implement a similar program in New Mexico for years. Pond had grown up a “sickly” child and the turning point for him had been his parents’ decision to send him to a Western Ranch for the “healthful air”.

Winthrop Johnson would go on to graduate from the Los Alamos Ranch School eleven years after that conversation between his parents and Ashley Pond. Winthop’s father, Templeton Johnson, was an architect educated in Paris. He’d designed campus buildings for the San Diego Parker School with an open design where open sided classrooms were clustered around a central courtyard. That design is quite similar to much of the architecture we’re familiar with here in the Southwest. Designs that capitalize on the climate in order to create spaces that encourage collaboration.

The Parker School Method or the “Progressive” educational model emphasized health and outdoor education. Physical activity was seen as key to a child’s proper development. Working with the hands, limited book learning, group collaboration and small group instruction with an emphasis on individual learning needs and styles was key.

To our modern minds this sounds almost like a “duh” moment. A good number of great schools, (including our own district), from all grade levels and regions utilize “Socratic” learning methods that encourage students to learn from each other and from questioning not only the teachers, but everything, as a method of discovery.

In the fall of 1915, all of Ashley Pond’s children went to San Diego to attend the San Diego Parker School. This left Pond with a lot of time on his hands and a passion for his Ranch School ideals. The rest is history.

The black and white photos above are from the Francis W Parker School’s history and were obtained from their website here. I love these photos because they are so reminiscent of what we now think of as “Montessori”. However, they also very much represent the Parker philosophy of “making them (children) aware of and responsive to the fundamental needs of society”. These photos show students “playing” at running a store or shopping. It also appears that they are “playing” at doing laundry. But that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. The Francis W Parker school acquired old dolls. In the photo, the students are laundering doll clothing so that it can be reused on refurbished dolls created from the pieces of old dolls and then resold to support the school!

This philosophy became critical to our Los Alamos Ranch School, but in a unique way. Instead of rehabbing dolls, the boys of the Ranch School were running a ranch. They grew what they ate and learned important lessons in architecture, animal husbandry, engineering, building, and surveying.

This closeness to nature and the ability to utilize “nature as a textbook” is still one of the things I love best about Los Alamos. As before, I give credit for photographs of the Ranch School to John D Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich as well as the Los Alamos Historical Society archives. Information about the San Diego Parker School and the Francis W Parker School can be obtained through their website links. And when you’re ready to join our community here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I love life in Los Alamos and I’d love to share that with you and your family!

The Girls of Ranch School Days

February 16, 2024 /

As I was considering topics for this week’s post, I came across the following photograph.

I’m sure most of you will recognize the building. It’s probably safe to imagine that most of us have sat or stood or even danced around the rooms of Fuller Lodge. You really can’t mistake the rich wood tones, the distinctive French doors, or that fireplace.

What’s a bit fascinating is that at first glance it might seem as if this is a photo from the Manhattan Project era. Maybe a dance for the GIs and scientific staff. Except that the girls are dressed in the sort of “formal wear” we often associate with school dances. And… the boys look awfully young with their slicked back hair, neckerchiefs, and shorts!

This photo is of a Valentines Day Dance in 1941, which was oddly appropriate given we just said goodbye to Valentines Day this week. Honestly, my first thought centered on the girls. Who were they? Where on earth did they come from? Were they daughters of local families on the plateau? The answer might surprise you.

In the 1930s and early 1940s, the Brownmoor School for Girls operated out of four leased buildings at the Bishop’s Lodge in Santa Fe. We tend to think of the Bishop’s Lodge as a fairly high end hotel offering spa services, trail rides, and other amenities to entertain tourists.

Back then the literature suggested it was a boarding school that “appeals to those parents who desire for their girls a development of their abilities under sympathetic guidance, and the maintenance of high standards of work conduct.” In actuality, the Brownmoor School operated quite a lot like the Los Alamos Ranch School did.

The Brownmoor School was founded in 1931 by Justine Ames Browne and Mary Atwell Moore who went on to be directors of the school. Girls came from all over, but many of them were from ranching families throughout the South and Midwest. The usual academic classes like mathematics, history, science and language were offered. Each girl had a horse to ride and spent much of their time outdoors doing archery, badminton, tennis, skiing, and skating. Dancing, singing, drama, and something called “social training” were also included. Which is where the Los Alamos Ranch School came in.

As part of their social training, girls would have the opportunity to attend away parties, gatherings, and events as a way to gain social graces that were a big part of why they’d been sent to boarding school in the first place. Of course, the Los Alamos Ranch School had morphed into the Manhattan Project site prior to the Brownmoor School’s move to Scottsdale, Arizona. The girls also attended events at the La Fonda hotel. Former students of the school recall Santa Fe as a wonderful place to be at that time. Artists from all over the US were plentiful. The food was amazing and unique experiences happened every day. Such as being awakened each morning at 7 AM by a matron with a “tom-tom” in the hallway, a name also given to the school yearbook.

It’s amazing to think that even though we consider Los Alamos to have been “remote” or “in the middle of nowhere” back in the Ranch School days, there was still a connectedness in the region. If you’d like to read more about the Brownmoor School for Girls, check out this article in the New Mexican here. When you’re ready to join our community here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos Real Estate with you!

Better Health in Los Alamos

February 10, 2024 /

In 2022, for the 3rd year in a row, Los Alamos was ranked as the #1 healthiest community in America by US News & World Report. Honestly, considering the crazy number of colds, flu like viruses, Covid mutations, and just bugs going around our town, I’m keeping my fingers crossed we can pull of a fourth win. Can you imagine what it’s like in communities not on the list of healthiest places to live? Of course, Los Alamos has always been of the healthiest places to exist. It’s why the Ranch School started in the first place.

In 1917, the Selective Service Act was created to draft men for WWI. Suddenly men around the country were being examined by doctors in a manner that allowed for the collection of a lot of data. What they discovered was that the United States had a bit of a health issue. We were a sickly nation of malnourished and under-conditioned people. One of the first responses was to create a public physical education program. Oh boy! PE class!

In 1916, over ten thousand cases of Polio (Infantile Paralysis) were reported. Young men had rheumatic fever, mononucleosis, lead poisoning, poor nutrition, and physical deterioration from lack of sunlight and poor air quality in smoggy, overcrowded cities. Some people never saw sunlight thanks to the smog! They rarely did physical activity indoors or outside.

In Linda Harvey Aldrich & John D Wirth’s book they give another important reminder, “Above all, however, it is important to remember that the Los Alamos Ranch School existed before the age of antibiotics, before modern pharmaceuticals and diagnostic tools, and before widespread public health measures governing waste disposal, pollution of air and land, and the safety of food and water.”

Both Ashley Pond and AJ Connell had grown up as “sickly” children. Connell openly told people that he felt a desire to help these boys physically because nobody had known how to do that for him. The Los Alamos Ranch School brochures specifically assured parents that they accepted “sickly boys” who were “below par”. The program sent weekly progress reports home to assure parents their sons were increasing in health. For the first few years, boys would come for a month or two and go home. Then they started only remaining at home for the three months of summer. They were healthier in Los Alamos and it isn’t difficult to imagine why.

The criterion that US News & World Report uses to determine their ranking of healthiest communities focuses on things like equity of opportunities, infrastructure, education, housing, and environment. Since the time of our healthy Ranch School, other cities and regions have benefitted from environmental guidelines and laws as well as widespread advancements in hygiene. And yet, even after all of those modern improvements, we’re still a healthier place to live. How cool is that?

Now, Los Alamos Ranch School did have a firm policy of not taking any students with active cases of Tuberculosis. Several of the boys had previous experience with TB, but were certified as “cured” prior to being accepted as students. At that time, it was possible to use a chest X-ray to determine if a case of primary tuberculosis was healed. At that time, the patient was considered not contagious and many people did not ever reach the point of secondary tuberculosis.

Most of the boys at the Ranch School were there because of asthma. It almost seems strange to think that an asthmatic would come from near sea level to this altitude with our average pollen and dust count, add a dollop of horse dander and hair, tons of other random animal and environmental allergens, and somehow this helps their condition?

Just when I think this must be wrong, I recall AJ Connell’s almost rigidly structured schedule. The students came from lazy, inactive, overfed, indulged lifestyles. They were introduced to a healthy, active lifestyle full of good nutrition, emotional and psychological and peer support. Then they spent four years making this a daily habit. Of course they’re likely to never have issues with asthma again. At this same time, they’re at the perfect age for building an immune system and toughening their bodies. Plus, AJ. Connell just didn’t believe in sickness. He believed in mind over matter!

It seems that in the end, as with most things in Los Alamos, it was education that won out. AJ Connell kept up with the latest medical advances in health, fitness, nutrition, and treatments. He always wanted more information and then used that to improve his program. Just as this town has been doing ever since.

When you’re ready to reach out and become a part of this community, give me a call! I’m a hometown girl who loves to talk about Los Alamos history, housing, and the wonderful things planned for our future. I’d love to chat real estate in Los Alamos with you!

School Life in Early Los Alamos

January 26, 2024 /

There’s really no doubt that Los Alamos has definitive “eras” that apply to the concept of “Life in Los Alamos”. This isn’t unusual. Any town or city across the globe could say the same. But there are a few things about our “eras” that are quite unique! As I dig a little more into the ranch school, I become more and more fascinated by the amazing learning opportunities those boys had at their Ranch Boarding School.

Everyone Got the Same Start

We travel a lot these days, perhaps less since Covid, but still a lot compared to different periods in history. You might take your kid to catch a plane in Santa Fe or Albuquerque so they can go off to school. Maybe you travel with them. Even traveling by road to drop your college kid at NMSU is a day’s travel, but still not bad.

Can you imagine the trek up the mountain to the Los Alamos Ranch School? Train to Santa Fe, followed by a wagon ride in the early years, or perhaps a truck in later times. The road wasn’t paved. Those boys probably felt as though their teeth had been knocked loose from that journey.

When they first arrived at the school they were immediately met by Bences Gonzales, (you can read more about Bences HERE). The friendly, almost uncle like Bences would take the new students to the Trading Post where they were fitted with a uniform and issued their school gear, which was fairly extensive. New student were assigned a Scout Patrol, given a room at the Big House, and introduced to their roommate.

The next critical step was the naming. Yes. The naming. According to John D. Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich’s history of our Ranch School, AJ Connell felt strongly that every young man was an individual. As such, no two boys had the same name. If you were John or Daniel or Robert and there were other Johns, Daniels, and Roberts, you were going to become “Jack” or “Juan” or maybe something completely different such as “Red” (should your hair be red) or “Lefty” (maybe you were left handed?).

This isn’t an unusual concept. In fact, you find this culture still going strong in military units, Scout camps, and other clubs. Sororities and fraternities do similar things as well. This even reminds me of the current trend of our kiddos in choosing new names and trying them on for a period of time. It’s a normal part of developing identity and AJ Connell seemed to understand this necessary piece of growing up. He also knew that if kids were given names reflecting their individuality and strengths, they were much less likely to be assigned a hurtful or negative nickname.

The Daily Schedule

Days at the Ranch School began at 6:30AM. Students rolled out of bed, drank a glass of water, dressed in their uniforms, and headed out the door to PT. This morning physical training was done in all weather. In keeping up with the most “modern” of healthful routines, Connell required the boys to be shirtless in all but the coldest and snowiest weather. In warmer weather they were expected to exercise “in the buff”. Can you imagine? When I head out for a run in the mornings I generally wear layers even in summer! It can be downright chilly up here all year round and this was over a hundred years ago when the region had far larger snowfalls and cooler temperatures in general.

Breakfast and room inspection happened between PT and the start of class at precisely 7:45AM. Class went until 12:55PM with a single break for milk and cookies. At 1:00PM the largest meal of the day was served, not an uncommon thing in ranching and farming cultures since you needed the calorie intake in order to have enough energy to get the manual labor done. This big meal was followed by a short “rest period” and the afternoons were filled with “recreation”, which was really just more education disguised by fun.

Ashley Pond’s vision for the school suggested, “it is our aim to fill every minute of the boys’ time with some profitable work made as interesting as play.” That is most certainly what ranch school life provided. Supper was served at 6:00PM and younger boys were in bed by 8:15PM and the oldest boys by 9:00PM. I think I would’ve been begging to go to bed by 8:00 after a day like that!

Classwork

Classes like mathematics, grammar, and reading were important at the Los Alamos Ranch School, but that wasn’t the only thing Ashley Pond’s progressive educational plan included. Once afternoon rest was over, the boys helped out on the ranch. Twice a week they rode out on horseback with their Scout Patrols. Other afternoons they worked in the barn, hiked in the mountains and were instructed by the staff in botany, geology, forestry, mineralogy, orthnology, wood crafts, topographical mapping, and surveying.

Ranch activities were called Industrial Training in the first two or three years of the school. After that it was referred to as “Community Work” and boys got school credit for these tasks. They often built and maintained trails, were responsible for the upkeep of the garden and grounds, and sometimes worked with the horses as much as they helped with office work.

The goal was to provide hands on training in real life skills. I can’t help but think about how many activities we have in town that mirror this philosophy. We have outdoor oriented pre-schools and programs for all ages at PEEC focused on nature. Our YMCA promotes camps for older students that focus on trail maintenance and forestry, and our Sportsman’s Club offers hunter safety, skeet shooting, and archery for youth and adults alike.

Student Health

Boys were weighed and measured when they first arrived at school. They were also weighed and measured weekly by the nurse. Connell was always present at these appointments. The idea was to send a weekly report to the parents of each student. The school’s big promise was to increase the health of the boys. Considering the rigorous and outdoor focused schedule, sending health reports home on a weekly basis would be a great way to brag to parents about how robust their sons were growing to be.

One Big Family

Another big draw of Ranch School life was the family atmosphere. All meals were served family style with either a school master or staff member at the head of each table in the dining hall. Good manners were emphasized and conversation was focused on topics related to what the boys were learning or doing around the ranch.

Evenings between supper and bedtime involved a gathering of boys around the Big House fireplace as a master read aloud. The boys enjoyed stories like Tarzan, or perhaps a book by Jack London. The atmosphere was intended to feel like a family gathering.

In the twenties, academic study time was instituted for boys struggling with their regular classes. They would gather together under the watchful eye of a master or an older boy and help each other as they completed or corrected assignments much in the same way modern students ask parents or older siblings and friends for help with their homework.

The Ranch School may be gone, but the spirit of Ashley Pond’s desire to educate kids in an outdoor environment with an emphasis on hands on learning is still alive and well here in Los Alamos! As always, I’d like to give credit where it’s due. Most of my information and photos for this post came from John D. Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich’s book, Los Alamos: The Ranch School Years. Please check it out for yourself! And when you’re ready to be part of our amazing community, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos real estate with you!

The Beautiful Snow in Los Alamos!

January 19, 2024 /

I’ve really enjoyed taking a tour back through some of the early (pre LANL) history of Los Alamos. I know you guys have enjoyed this too because I’ve been hearing great positive things about the blog, which is so wonderful! Thanks for that, by the way! It is SO good to hear your stories and comments and shared memories!

However, as we’ve had some pretty interesting “ski hill” moments in our house in the last few weeks, I wanted to give everybody a heads up about some really cool winter programs here in Los Alamos.

I’m not a skier and I didn’t grow up on skis like many of my local friends did. This means I wasn’t taking my kiddos out to ski before they could walk. Not experiencing this activity at an early age means there’s a pretty steep learning curve if someone decides to try it later on. Let’s just say that I really wish I’d taken advantage of some of the programs we have today to teach local kiddos to ski!

Bluebird Ski Camp

The first session of Camp Bluebird at Pajarito Mountain is just wrapping up, but the second session is still to come! The camp teaches kiddos ages 7-12 how to downhill ski. This is a huge camp with tons of participation and a lot of great teaching! Even if you don’t ski, this can be a fantastic opportunity for your kids to give it a try in a fun environment that is likely full of their school friends.

Camp Bluebird has options for skiing and snowboarding. The cost includes the lesson, equipment rental, lunch, and even a season pass for the kiddo! Camp sessions are four weeks long and are only on Saturday. It’s a really great opportunity to get your kiddo started or sharpen up their skills. It might even be a great way for a snowboarder to try skis or vice versa.

If you’re interested in getting your kids into lessons even after Camp Bluebird is done for the season, you’d probably be surprised at the number of options available. Private, group, and even custom groups are available for both skiing and snowboarding. In fact, you could get your kids, your neighbor’s kids, or a whole party of them up there for a custom group lesson. This might actually be the coolest winter thing to do for out of town guests with no ski experience.

Pajarito Mountain has come up with one more interesting way to pick up the sport. Learn to Ski Thursdays and Learn to Ski Spring Break offer a really fun way to experience something new! For folks who have never ever tried skiing or snowboarding, a two hour complimentary lesson is available with lift ticket and equipment rental. Check out the website here for details on this fun thing to do!

Southwest Nordic Ski Club

If downhill skiing seems too limited for you, Cross Country Skiing might be just the thing! Never tried Cross Country, otherwise known as Nordic Track, skiing? No problem. Los Alamos based nonprofit, Southwest Nordic Ski Club, has you covered.

The Southwest Nordic Ski Club originally gained momentum in the 1970s as the Los Alamos Nordic Ski Club. The club mission is focused on promoting the sport of nordic track skiing in the Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado region. The club is entirely volunteer driven and has created and maintained agreements with the Santa Fe National Forest allowing nordic track skiing access on the Cañada Bonita trail as well as the Guaje Canyon Trail #282. The club maintains the trails in all seasons, grooms the trails in the winter for nordic track and snowshoeing use, and participates in countless stewardship projects to help all users have a more enjoyable trail experience. How cool is that, folks? It’s such a cool thing to be a part of!

The club has a wonderful website with the latest grooming reports as well as information on upcoming lessons, clinics, group ski activities, and more. They also have more information on the SW Nordic Ski Kids program, which actually goes year round. Not only do they have activities to help kids learn and connect with others their own age who enjoy it too, they do the same in summer! On warmer weekends, you can sometimes find the club practicing their skills on the quiet, winding, and sometimes fairly hilly terrain in neighborhoods around Los Alamos!

So if you’re looking for ways to enjoy the wonderful snow we’ve been having lately, check out these two amazing organizations here in Los Alamos. And when you’re ready to join our community here on the Pajarito Plateau, give me a call! I’d love to chat Los Alamos Real Estate with you!

What Makes a Company Town?

January 12, 2024 /

There has always existed an ongoing argument here in Los Alamos regarding whether or not the Laboratory defines the existence of the town. If LANL closes (LASL back in the day) does that mean there is no Los Alamos? Or is it that without a town to provide basic necessities and services for a workforce, LANL could not exist.

It’s almost like a chicken and egg question, right? Which comes first? The Laboratory or the town? You don’t have to be a member of our community for very long to realize that our location is remote. This was deliberate. For the Atomic Energy Commission, yes. But honestly, it was also deliberate for the Los Alamos Ranch School. The whole point was the pull those city boys out of their overcrowded lives and let them experience raw, visceral life.

In this day and age we moan about the fact that very rarely is Prime shipping actually next day as it would be in most metropolitan areas. Back in the early days of the Los Alamos Ranch, the only vehicle was an ancient Dodge truck unless you wanted to go by ox cart or horse drawn wagon. If we think the Main Hill Road is intense now, can you imagine before there WAS a road and they were trucking supplies up the old ox cart roads in Bayo Canyon?

The Pajarito Plateau was never anything but isolated. The Los Alamos Ranch was incorporated for the sole purpose of supporting the school. Nearly 800 acres of owned land and access to thousands of acres of leased land. This was the only way to support the two hundred head of cattle, dairy cows, bulls (for breeding), work horses, riding horses, ranching horses, pack horses and mules, hogs, geese, chickens for meat and eggs, turkeys, and rabbits.

One of the selling points of the Los Alamos Ranch School was the fact that the boys were only fed food grown and raised entirely on the ranch or brought in from the surrounding farms and ranches. Of course, this took quite a lot of work from the boys, but there were also over a hundred employees who worked at the ranch.

AJ Connell didn’t take long to realize that he could not hope to manage the ranch without the help of the already well established homesteading community on the Pajarito Plateau. From the beginning of the school in 1917, he began to rely heavily on the surrounding communities. Until 1921 there were only three main buildings at the school. The “Big House”, a master’s cottage, and the infirmary/guest house. There were separate bunk house like lodgings for the cooks, houseboys, laborers, the ranch foreman, and the poultry man. There was also a large barn, a silo, a water tower, smokehouse, sheds, corrals, and a commissary to provide shelter for school activities and daily living.

The early years of the school only saw around 9 regular students. By the closure of the school there were 48 students. They were eating vegetables from the garden, beef from the school’s cattle, drinking milk from the dairy, eggs from the chickens, and getting their fruit from the Espanola Valley.

Gradually, the school began to grow. Teachers and workers had families. Cabins were built to house these additions. A public elementary school sprung up to teach the staff’s children. Connell had a habit of employing multiple members of one family in order to strengthen the relationship between the school and the surrounding ranches.

It all sounds familiar, doesn’t it? When Oppenheimer speculated about the needs of the Manhattan Project he talked about “housing for a dozen scientists”. This soon caused a steady influx of personnel and their families who had needs. The community grew to meet those needs. The family members took jobs as support and staff personnel, teachers, clerks, librarians, assistants, and so many other important roles that sustain and create a community. One feeds off the other until we have a growing, thriving city perched atop a plateau in the middle of nowhere…

Another incredible perk of attending the Ranch School in Los Alamos was access to men like Bences Gonzales. Gonzales ran the Trading Post and cooked during the summer camps. He was considered a listening ear who could shoot and would often teach the boys to fish. Gonzales was one of dozens of strong Western characters who both entertained and educated the Ranch School students.

Ted Mather was the horse wrangler. The boys were said to beg for his stories, which were straight out of a Western dime novel. He taught them to ride and handle horses, and shared his knowledge freely with the students. The Womelsduff brothers, Lloyd, Frank, and Jim were also vital to the ranch students. Floyd was the ranch mechanic and loved teaching the boys about mechanical and electrical things. Frank was the elementary school teacher for some time, and Jim was the ranch foreman. They spent hours with the boys helping them navigate the practical outdoor skills that created a basis for the outdoor education at the core of the school’s philosophy.

If you’ve ever been to a sports practice, a school concert or performance, or a Boy Scout meeting here in Los Alamos, you’ve probably witnessed the incredible amount of mentoring that goes on between adults and kids. Adults who are at the top of their fields, teaching and helping the next generations of talented people. A good number of adjunct professors at UNM-LA are LANL or contractor employees. What an amazing learning opportunity we have here. Just head to the Mesa Public Library and check out the latest talks, exhibitions, demonstrations, or other creative, scientific, or historical learning opportunities. I like to think of the Ranch School Students hitting the Trading Post, the barn, the machine shop, and the Arts & Crafts building after their classroom time was done for the day. Not unlike a summer day spent at ScienceFest.

There is no doubting the interconnected nature of the Laboratory and Los Alamos. But perhaps it helps to realize that there has always been a need for community up here on the Pajarito Plateau. And when you’re ready to join the community of Los Alamos, give me a call! I’d love to talk real estate with you!

Everything for a Reason

January 5, 2024 /

If I told you that the “motto” of Los Alamos was “At Los Alamos, everything is done for a reason.”, you probably wouldn’t be surprised. It might surprise you however, to learn that it was AJ Connell, director or “boss” of the Los Alamos Ranch School from it’s inception in 1917 until the Manhattan Project took over in 1943.

As the focus in our community seems entirely centered on the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer, I’ve begun to get more and more curious about the Los Alamos Ranch School. Folks tell me so frequently that they’re in Los Alamos “for the schools”, or perhaps “for the amazing outdoor life”. Turns out, these two things in particular have always gone hand in hand here in Los Alamos.

Why a Ranch School?

Today we don’t think much about traveling from one coast to the other beyond groaning about a 3-4 hour plane ride and waiting around in airports. Children often travel for educational purposes. Some of those opportunities even involve heading off to a foreign country for an exchange program.

Would it surprise you know that it was quite the thing for families on the East Coast to send their sons to “Ranch Schools” in the West? One of the most famous Ranch Schools is The Evans School on the outskirts of Mesa, Arizona. The Evans School boasted names like Roosevelt, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, and DuPont. You might imagine how other families would be itching to send their sons to the American West to be educated like these scions of American industry.

When Ashley Pond purchased the Brook’s ranch in 1917, his initial vision for the school was a place where boys could be accepted year round and stay at the school only long enough to achieve an increased level of good health before heading back home to their families. With that goal in mind, families paid $150 per month for their sons to come to the Los Alamos Ranch School.

That number is probably a bit misleading these days, don’t you think? I know I didn’t bat an eye when I first read it in John D Wirth and Linda Harvey Aldrich’s book about the Los Alamos Ranch School Years. $150 a month sounds like a bargain these days. You can’t even hire someone to watch your toddler for that sort of money.

Here’s a reality check. According to amoritization.org, $150.00 in 1917 is the equivalent of $3837.89 in 2023. While it sounds astronomical, it’s really not that far off what a lot of preparatory schools charge for monthly tuition these days.

A brochure for the Los Alamos Ranch School dated in the 1920s states, “Our school is necessarily limited to boys whose parents are able and willing to pay for the best.”

Why did the Los Alamos Ranch School have to be so expensive? It might be better to dig a bit more into what tuition included. For their tuition cost, students would receive lodging, food, “medical attendance”, and use of a horse and necessary tack. It was a popular saying that tuition covered “everything but your personal laundry”.

A boy would arrive at school and be immediately taken in by a friendly face who would match him up with a sort of big brother or mentor from the older boys. He’d be taken to the Trading Post where he would purchase his gear (leather jacket, shorts, boots, hat, knife, matches, and other survival items). This gear was expected to last him the duration of his stay at the school whether it be months or years. I found it so very similar to sending my kiddo off to college only to realize she’d created a big balance at the school book store buying school supplies, books, and spirit wear.

In Wirth and Aldrich’s book, they tell the story of one young man who caused quite an issue with his folks back home by running up a $600 bill at the Trading Post. While that would be a shocker considering that’s about $15K in modern currency, it was pointed out to the disgruntled parent that their son made the decision to purchase English riding boots, his own .22 caliber rifle, and had also managed to regularly lose or misplace his survival gear, requiring him to replace knives, matches and other necessities before being allowed out on patrol.

From the beginning, the boys were being taught responsibility. How they took those lessons to heart is as unique as any modern student you might know today! After all, at Los Alamos everything is done for a reason.

In the next few posts, we’ll be exploring some of these rather amazing reasons why Los Alamos is the way that it is. And when you’re ready to be a part of this fantastic community, give me a call! I’d love to chat real estate in Los Alamos with you!

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