billy the kid museum

Shop keeper is serious about his Billy the Kid! We like BTK, but its not like he was such a great person that he deserves a crown and that much seriousness over his burial and death locations. He was an outlaw, he was cool, and has many peoples attention, ease up a bit and be light hearted. :) Museum was cool and plenty of goodies to choose from. Thanks!

We have planned a stop here for a long time, but the opportunity to visit just happened. We know the history of both Billy and the Bosque Redondo, but did not have a good idea of the layout at Ft. Sumner. We first stopped at the Billy-the-Kid museum on the south side of town. It is a privately owned museum, and quite extensive. They have many artifacts from the era to view, a lot of newspaper reproductions to read, and many photographs. It is all quite authentic. Then there are large collections of farm eqjuipment, antique autos, western memorabilia, and a lot of junk, too. That plus a large gift shop. If you wish you can take 2 hours to see it all, but we spent about an hour focussing on just the Billy-stuff. Next we drove south about 8 miles to the site of the old Ft. Sumner, and Billy's grave. Billy is buried in the old Post cemetery between two of his close friends; entrance is free to this site. There is another museum at the cemetery, and it is also privately owned, possibly by the same people who have the one in town; I'm not sure. We did not visit this museum.Finally we drove another half mile to the NM state site for the Bosque Redondo Apache-Navajo Reservation. This history precedes Billy by about 20 years. They have built a large visitor center there, but there are few real displays inside. They do have a series of well done illustrated "posters" which tell the story quite clearly. They are located where displays will be placed when they get the money to complete them. It was a bit of a let-down, but the basic history can be learned here. From this location you can walk to the old fort grounds, but nothing remains of the original buildings. Also, the Maxwell house site is there, where Sheriff Pat Garret shot Billy. The Pecos River and it's winding course has wiped out the foundations of many of the buildings inlcuding the Maxwell house which is now literally under the highwater mark of the current Pecos River. You'll need another 2 hours to visit the center and walk the grounds of the old fort.A visit here at Ft. Sumner would mostly close the loop for those interested in Billy. Do visit Lincoln, NM, which was the location for many of his exploits, Mesilla (Las Cruces) where he was tried, convited and sentenced, and finally Ft. Sumner where he was killed and buried.

We stopped here on our way to Carlsbad Caverns. I didn't set my hopes too high as I thought it would just be a tourist trap place. We ended up spending almost two hours walking through and we only went so fast because they were about to close!! It's a family run place and fun museum!! Absolutely worth taking the time to visit!!

The owner Mr Sweet was very knowledgable on his history of Billy the kid and other historical people! He was very nice to explain how the museum came into being. Started by his father in 1952. There are a lot of interesting things to see in there from old guns to cars. Be sure and see this place you won't be disappointed.

This museum has a lot of everything. Billy the Kid history and everything else pertaining to the west. It has many buildings and many collections, well taken care of. A very cordial host greeted us at the door (it's family owned) and showed us a lot of his family's history and more. There is an exceptional film about Billy the Kid which is shown in a small theater. Clean restrooms and a nice gift shop added to making this a great stop. It was really a wondrous place and I would highly recommend a visit.

Some good Billy stuff and then to our surprise a huge amount of old antiques. Well worth the entrance fee. The owners were very friendly. The gift store was a mix.of stuff. There are two muesums to Billy in this town see both

The museum is advertised a lot during the drive to Albequrque, so we stopped for what we expected to be an educational stop. It was surprising and dissapointing. The facility has some points of interest when it comes to Billy the Kid and his history, but limited in memorabilia pertaining to him. The confusion comes with the other items in the museum stemming from Barbie Dolls to pictures of religious figures. The place seems to have been put together with items from someones attic with scattered items of no interest or not pertaining to history of any kind. The staff are pleasant and informative, not worth the entrance fee.

I'd been here with my brother in 1978,but didn't go into the museum.Stop and watch the video before going into the museum.The first item I saw was the saddle of George McClellan,a civil war general,plus lot's of early western memorabilia.But the best,at least to me,was Billy the Kid's rifle.Spend a hr or so going to all the sites,then venture out to see the Kid's grave.Back in '78 there was no rod-iron fence,but due to vandelisiam,a fence was needed.it's to bad.Gift shop has some interesting items,so check it out as well.Hope you get to enjoy this place as we did Sept 27th 2014.David/Cheryl Sargent

Totally worth the winded longgggggggg detour (not really probably an hour) but endless road that made me think Fort. Sumner was in the middle of nowhere and it is! Very interesting museum of Billy the kid and the old wild west! So much to see and very cool memorabilia! My boyfriend and I enjoyed it very much!

If you are on the trail of Billy the Kid, or just interested in historical memorabilia from the old west, this is a must-see museum. It is easy to get to if you are traveling today's version of Route 66, which is to say, east or west on I-40. At exit 277 in New Mexico, you'll go south on US-84 for 41 miles, and at the "T" intersection with US-60 turn left (East) and go exactly 1 mile to the Billy the Kid Museum. They will charge you $5/person ($4 for seniors) and it is very much worth it. I was surprised at the size of the structure and the many exhibits. As you might expect, there is not much there that directly involved Billy the Kid--I guess the most relevant piece is his rifle. The grave that is there is a replica of the actual grave (you'll have to go another 2 miles east and 3 1/2 miles south to see that). But the extent to which these folks have amassed a collection of items from the old west is astounding. There is everything you can imagine in multiple examples. Most interesting to me were the 100's of rifles and hand guns as well as saddles and tack from the old west. There is a room set up to replicate a typical homesteaders cabin and in another room about a dozen old vehicles, from horse drawn wagons to old horseless carriages. Yellow arrows guide you through the exhibits in one building after another and finally conclude at the gift shop, which is one of the nicest I have seen. Everything throughout the gift shop, including the restrooms, is "neat as a pin." Prices are reasonable and the variety is astounding. Clearly, this is the must-see museum for anyone anywhere near this town. One small foot note: do not fail to see the "other" Billy the Kid Museum at Old Fort Sumner--that is the museum that includes the actual grave-site of Billy and it's only 5 miles away. See my review of that site.

My family went to Fort Sumner during Labor Day weekend, 2014, to see Billy the Kid's gravesite and museum. This town is located out in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico and made for an interesting drive with virtually NO traffic in either direction from Santa Rosa, NM.The museum took about two hours to visit since we like to see everything. The museum houses both documented and undocumented artifacts that allegedly belonged to Billy the Kid, including: his rifle, chaps, hair, a rock carving with his name and date of 7/4, 1880, and spurs (allegedly taken off a cattle rustler he had killed). Additional items included the door of the room where he had been shot and the curtains that hung across the window and door of that same room. There was also the BEST photo of Billy the Kid that I had ever seen as well as another large photo of him in front of a home playing croquet--he was wearing a top hat and his two pals, Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre (buried next to him), were also in the picture.Besides these articles, the museum houses rooms and rooms of other antique things. There is a collection of cauldrons, old typewriters, guns, wagons, and cars (to name a few). My favorite vehicle was the old black hearse carriage with a white coffin inside. Basically, LOTS to see and a huge souvenir shop--even sold my beloved embroidered patch of the museum. The staff was absolutely wonderful and accommodating and helped us book a room for the evening at the Coronado Motel down the road.If you're a lover of the outlaws of the Old Wild West, then this is a must see.

Go for the graves and the history, hang around for the knick-knacks. Two headed calf? Ok, pretty neat. Well played museum. Old cars? What's that got to do with Billy the Kid?

This seems to be a popular place for people to stop and stretch their legs on the way to other places--that's what we were doing there. It was an amusing stop. They did have some Billy the Kid stuff, but it was really opened as an antique museum and museum of curiosities by the original owner. It is casually organised and had some thought provoking items in it. A great place to stretch the legs:)

A lot of history in this place.would recommend to some one passing Thur. Gift shop was good they has some good $$

Some children, who were running and screaming and being screamed at by their parents arrived shortly after we did. The staff kindly let us step out for a bit and return after that family left.The museum is small, but interesting. A good way to kill an hour or two.