The visitors center at Pecos National Historical Park in Pecos, New Mexico, soon will undergo a three-year, $1 million improvement plan.
Becky Latanich, the park’s chief of interpretation and education, told the Albuquerque Journal she wants to make the visitors center more appealing to children and families.
One of the most important changes for Latanich is making the space more interactive. This could include anything from a place to leave comments to more “kinesthetic,” or touchable, exhibits that can appeal to more learning styles.
“We’re really trying to avoid boring interactives like ‘lift this panel,’ ” she said. “We want really meaningful things, so maybe grinding corn with a mano and metate, making your own pottery (or) art in some capacity.”
She also mentioned possibly adding a reconstructed pueblo room visitors can walk into.
Latanich said the facility also would become more handicapped-accessible. The building was constructed before the Americans with Disabilities Act became law.
She also said some of the exhibits also should show more modern history, including early Route 66, which went through Pecos as part of the Santa Fe Loop from 1926 to 1937.
The park contains historic elements, from the Glorieta Pass Battlefield of the Civil War, the Native American-built Pecos Pueblo, the 1920s Forked Lightning Ranch and the Santa Fe Trail, which is a precursor of Route 66.
Another reason to visit Pecos National Historic Park is simply because it’s beautiful:
(Image of Pecos Mission at Pecos National Historical Park in Pecos, New Mexico, by tivolatman via Flickr)