One of the most enduring of New Mexico's many legendary Wild West figures was a Brooklyn-born one-time bus boy named William Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid . Many towns lay claim to him, but he first came to fame as an eighteen-year-old in the Lincoln County War , which erupted in 1878 in the frontier town of LINCOLN - on Hwy-380 halfway between Carlsbad and Albuquerque - when rival groups of ranchers and merchants fought to gain control of the town and the hundreds of square miles of grazing lands surrounding it. Since those days, no new buildings have joined the venerable false-fronted structures that line Main Street, and the entire town is now the Lincoln State Monument . Visitors can stroll its length at any time, while admission to its various historical sites is via a joint ticket sold at each (daily 8.30am-5pm; $6; tel 505/653-4372). Displays in the modern Lincoln County Historical Center , at the east end of town, cover Hispanics, cowboys, "Buffalo Soldiers" - the black cavalrymen stationed at nearby Fort Stanton - and Apaches, as well as the Lincoln County War. Billy the Kid's most famous jailbreak is commemorated at the Lincoln County Courthouse , at the other end of the street; waiting here under sentence of death, he shot his way out and fled to Fort Sumner, where Sheriff Pat Garrett eventually caught up with him. On the first weekend of August, the town fills up, and its streets echo with gunfire once again, during the three-day Old Lincoln Days festival.

Near the courthouse, the Wortley Pat Garrett Hotel - once owned by Sheriff Pat Garrett - offers eight plain but appealing hotel rooms (open late April to mid-Oct only; PO Box 96, Lincoln, NM 88338; tel 505/653-4300 or 1-8777/WORTLEY, ; $50-75), and its dining room serves simple stews and sandwiches at lunchtime only. If you like a bit more comfort, head to the nearby Casa de Patrón   B&B (PO Box 27, Lincoln, NM 88338; tel 505/653-4676 or 1-800/524-5202, ; $75-100/$100-130), where the more expensive rooms are in a separate but less atmospheric modern annexe.

Lincoln

• Lincoln

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