Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ghost Ranch offers a wide variety of workshops in social justice and peacemaking, plus
guided hikes and desert pilgrimages to sacred sites.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
The 21,000 acres that compose Ghost Ranch were part of a land grant to Pedro
Martín Serrano from the king of Spain in 1766. At first it was called Piedra Lumbre
(“shining rock”), but eventually it became known as El Rancho de los Brujos
(“ranch of the witches”) after ranchers hanged a gang of cattle rustlers who, accord-
ing to locals, still haunted the place. Carol Stanley, a Boston-born musician who
won the ranch in a 1927 poker game and built its casitas and bunkhouses, changed
the Spanish name to the simpler Ghost Ranch.
Wealthy publisher Arthur Pack bought the ranch from Stanley, and before he
gave the massive spread to the Presbyterian Church in 1955, Ghost Ranch was a
dude ranch, attracting the likes of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, D. H. Lawrence,
Ansel Adams, and other artists attracted to what historian Lesley Poling-Kempes
called its “epic beauty.”
Ghost Ranch is still a working ranch, complete with cattle and covered with
bleached white animal bones. Before O'Keeffe moved to New Mexico permanently
in 1949, she used to ship barrels of cattle skulls to her studio in New York. If you
want to get a preview of the place, just rent the movie City Slickers.
Housing at the ranch is rustic and modest. There are no phones or TVs (by design), and
meals (three hearty, wholesome meals featuring local produce) are served cafeteria style, with
guests expected to bus their own tables.
Ghost Ranch is located approximately two hours' drive from the Albuquerque airport,
an hour north of Santa Fe. It offers dozens of workshops, seminars, adventures, and service
opportunities for people of all ages. Since 1990, the Ghost Ranch has also run a campus in
Santa Fe (800-821-5145).
Six-day workshops are priced between $240 and $370; housing and meal plans range
from $425 to $1,275. For those who want to camp and cook for themselves, sites are available
for $105 per week.
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