The Rest of my Day at Ghost Ranch

Friday May 16, 2025                                            Most Recent Posts:
Ghost Ranch                                           Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch Home
Abiquiu, New Mexico              Wandering Taos Part 2:  Mable Dodge Luhan

Back tracking to when I first arrived at Ghost Ranch for my wonderful tour.  Link to that post is the first one above.

Here is the entrance.

These were my first looks at this absolutely amazing setting.  No wonder O’Keeffe rented a cottage and then bought a home here.  I would too if I could.

You can barely see the buildings of Ghost Ranch in front of the amazing backdrop.

I parked right in front of the main building and took the wide sidewalk up the stairs  to check in for the tour described in the previous post. 

After it was over and I had time, I went back inside and watched the excellent  video, about the ranch its history and connection to O’Keeffe, while I ate the lunch I had brought with me.

On the veranda outside is this information board which most folks glance at and I read every word.  It does a fabulous job of the entire history of ghost ranch in a small space.   Here’s what I learned.

The known history of the Ghost Ranch land goes back to 6000 BCE but this specific spot history sort of begins in 1876 when the Archuleta Brothers homestead here.  They build what was known as the Ghost House.   They spread rumors about it being haunted to keep others away and unaware of their cattle rustling using the name El Ranch de los Brujos (witches).

In 1903  the brothers were hung from trees by the house for cattle thieving and the land was bought by lawyers for back taxes. 

In 1928 a new owner Richard Pfaffe, who allegedly won the land in a poker game, named it Ghost Ranch.  He opens it as a dude ranch in 1929, the same year Georgia O’Keeffe first visits Mable Dodge Luhan beginning her love affair with New Mexico.

In 1933 Arthur Pack buys 390 acres and builds a home which ultimately he sells in 1940 to Georgia who first visited Ghost Ranch in 1934 renting, for several years, the cottage that now bears her name.  In 1935 Pack buys an additional 16000 acres.   By 1936 the dude ranch, now run by Pack, can house 20 people paying $8o a week.   Oh for the good old days.   

In 1955 Pack donated all of Ghost Ranch to the Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church of America.  There is a great deal more history in the development of Ghost Ranch to what it is today.  The only further things I will  mention are:
In 1971, Georgia O’Keeffe suggests to Ghost Ranch Director Jim Hall that the ranch use her skull motif on summer programs and the motif is adopted as the Ghost Ranch logo.

In 1983 a fire destroyed the headquarters office and Georgia O’Keeffe donated $50,000 and use of her name in fundraising for its replacement.  In 2006 the Presbyterian Church announced it would no longer financially support the operating budget of the center.  In 2015 a flash flood caused over $500,000 worth of damage.  Many buildings were lost.  

Ghost Ranch has served as a movie location, it is a significant paleontological and anthropological site, with on-site museums and fossil quarries. The Ghost Ranch property has a remarkable concentration of fossils, most notably that of the theropod dinosaur Coelophysis, of which it has been estimated that nearly a thousand individuals have been preserved in a quarry at Ghost Ranch.

Since 1955, the 21000 acres of Ghost Ranch are owned by the Presbyterian Church of America.  Like the Mable Dodge Luhan House, it too is an education, conference and  retreat center albeit MUCH larger.

From there I started exploring this history.  As I left, I saw a much larger group of 12 or 15 getting into a Ghost Ranch van for a tour.  I’m assuming this was one of the other tours since few people want to do a three mile hike.  But I was smiling about the smaller size of our group.

I walked by the cabin O’Keeffe rented that I talked about above and in the previous post.  What a wonderful setting.

Ghost House, also mentioned previously,  and its courtyard was built in the 1890’s by the Archuleta Brothers.  It was the only residence in the canyon and the headquarters for the infamous cattle rustling operation.   Now one room is available to view and the others are rented out.

Doesn’t this look great!  Love those little windows and the adobe bench

The door beside the bench is the open guest room.  The others are rentals and someone actually came into the room on the far right while I was there.   Later on there is a picture of the view from this window.

Inside, on the walls were photos showing Ghost Ranch in the 1930’s when it was a Dude Ranch owned and operated by the Packs who first rented to O’Keeffe.  The photos were used in a promotional booklet sent to prospective guests who might want to experience “the wild west”.

This all adobe structure is the only two story adobe building on the ranch.  It was build for the Robert Wood Johnson Family (Johnson & Johnson fame) in 1935.  They were old friends of the Packs from New Jersey.  Today the building is known as Cottonwood and houses the Ghost Ranch Library and two guest rooms upstairs.

Here’s the interior I saw today.   You can see the pictures of the 30’s on the walls.  Not sure why you’d want a table this large since there is no kitchen and Ghost Ranch is no where near anything remotely resembling “take out”.    The next picture is from the room you can see into beyond.

I love these corner fireplaces.  O’Keeffe put them in her Abiquiu Home and I’m betting in her home here at Ghost Ranch.  You can bet I’ll be back when they open that to the public.

The view out the window that I mentioned previously.

Those of you who read my post about O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu  home will recognize that she may well have taken this great idea from Ghost Ranch and used it in restoring that run down hacienda.   I absolutely love these recesses in the walls.  Neither of the pictures I took was sharp enough but I wanted to remember this so it will hve to do.

Leave the Ghost Ranch patio I see Pedernal as ever on the horizon.

I passed the dining hall, a non descript adobe building for overnight guests but not day visitors, and  Agape Spiritual Center, which I returned to on my way back.  I anxious to walk the labyrinth before it got too hot.

Along the way, I passed what I believe is known as a Zen Garden complete with rake leaning against the piece of wood on the left.

I spent a wonderful pensive time walking the lovely Chartres style outdoor labyrinth with such gorgeous scenery around it.    I could definitely do this once a day if I lived her.

Further along I found a Medicine Wheel

This building also appeared to be accommodations of some sort or perhaps a gathering or teaching space.  It’s a distance from here to the main building and dining hall.   I loved the bench and how the building fits right “under” the rock background.

 

I was on my way to check out the campground when I came upon these rustic cottages.  I thought they were great.  There was one person sitting on a porch.  There is a variety of accommodations at Ghost Ranch which can host quite a few people at one time.  It was certainly not crowded on this day or everyone was busy doing whatever they had come to do.

The campground was small and also rustic.  I heard they have some hook ups, not sure what as it unfortunately didn’t seem like a spot I could bring Winnona to.  I might look into this more in the future.  At this point my energy is beginning to wane.  I’m at 8 miles and counting.

It was nearing 6pm but I did want to look around the Agape Center which is used for a variety of purposes including weddings.  Yes you can get married at Ghost Ranch.

When I arrived there was a small group just leaving some sort of sit on the ground gathering in the courtyard.  Might have been right down my alley.

There was a large room off to the left with huge windows looking out to Pedernal but there was a group meeting in there so I didn’t go in. 

Bells seemed to be popular and definitely picturesque.

From there as my energy flagged even more and I realized I had a 90 minute drive back to Winnona,  I made a quick trip through the Anthropology Museum knowing I would have to return to do it justice.

The painting here is of the Coelophysis whose bones were discovered in a quarry on the property in 1947.  The 2nd museum is dedicated to it and Paleontology. 

My quick trip through the Anthropology museum showed some lovely Native American Pottery and other works of art from the surrounding area shown on this wonderful map.  Ghost ranch is in the middle near the top by the Apache Reservation.

 

I am already imagining a return visit for a program, I saw a 5 day birding program listed.  That would be wonderful.   Or at least an overnight or two or three, to hike the numerous interesting looking trails some with views I would love to have seen.  I also did not have time  this time to give both museums the attention they deserve.   How many days would all of this take??

But I wasn’t finished quite yet.  Just to the side on the drive out to the highway, I saw the City Slickers Cabin I had glimpsed on my way in and thought I still had enough energy to look around.

The cabin and corral are what remain from a movie set for City Slickers (1991). 

The original set appears about 25 min into the movie and had two cabins, a two story barn and corrals.  This location is still used by film companies and for advertising.

I read on the information board from which I got this information that Ghost Ranch offers a Movie Site Tour that includes this and other movie sites at Ghost Ranch.  I didn’t see it when I looked at the tours they were offering.

I bid a reluctant farewell to Ghost Ranch.

When I arrived this morning, I was too busy making sure I could find where I was going and get there on time to notice the magnificence around me but I was in awe on my return to Winnona.

This is the highway leading to the Ghost Ranch entrance.

I know, enough all ready.  You can see how totally enamored I am with Georgia O’Keeffe and Ghost Ranch.  But that’s the end . . . . at least for this year. 

Next up is Taos Farmer’s Market and the D. H. Lawrence Ranch