NPS News:WATROUS ― Join VanAnn Moore, an accomplished performer and story teller, for a living history impression of an early 20th-century tour guide in the Southwest.
Her program, which is free, is 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15 at the CCHP/Santa Fe Trail Interpretive Center at 116 Bridge Street in Las Vegas, N.M.
The Detour Couriers, as they were known, were a new breed of courageous, intelligent and hard-working women who traveled west in the 1920s. Inheriting the tradition of the famous Harvey Girls, the Southwestern Detour Couriers worked with the Santa Fe Railroad and the Harvey House hotels and restaurants to take travelers on guided side trips from the railroad stations.
These college-educated Detour Couriers were a major part of the emerging travel industry as they showcased the allure, history and unique beauty of the American West. Along with young men who drove the touring cars and buses, these women took willing passengers off of the railroads and away from the Fred Harvey Hotels to the explore extraordinary places such as the Grand Canyon and Indian pueblos.
Grab your walking shoes, cameras and a hat as we join VanAnn for a singing, dancing and storytelling detour of the grand Southwest.
This program is free in partnership with the Las Vegas Citizens Committee for Historic Preservation and the New Mexico Humanities Council. For more information, contact Fort Union National Monument at 505.425.8025, visit www.nps.gov/foun, or like on us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FortUnionNM.
