New Mexico
Where the legend of Billy the Kid still lives along the streets of the Old West.
Lincoln, New Mexico, is one of the best-preserved historic communities of the American West and the setting for the violent Lincoln County War of 1878. Along its quiet main road, visitors can walk between buildings connected to Billy the Kid, John Tunstall, Alexander McSween, the Lincoln County Regulators, and the rival Murphy-Dolan faction.
Today, Lincoln Historic Site preserves much of this remarkable history, including the Tunstall Store, El Torreón, and the old Lincoln County Courthouse—the building where Billy the Kid was imprisoned before his famous 1881 escape. More than a Billy the Kid destination, Lincoln offers a rare opportunity to walk through the actual landscape where business rivalries, politics, law enforcement, and frontier violence collided during one of the most famous conflicts of the Old West.
The legend of Billy the Kid began amid a violent struggle for economic and political power in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Walk the streets where John Tunstall, Alexander McSween, the Regulators, Sheriff William Brady, and Billy the Kid became part of one of the most famous conflicts of the American West.