Sunday, February 04, 2018

Good Morning at the Goodnight Barn


The Goodnight Barn was built in 1870 and is the only standing edifice from the Charles Goodnight’s sprawling Rock Canyon Ranch west of Pueblo, Colorado. The stone barn is considered architecturally significant and is the subject of a fundraising effort intended to restore it to its historic glory. Part of that effort is an art show that opened Friday night at the splendid Sangre de Cristo Arts Center in Pueblo's downtown. 

Over the years the barn fell into disrepair, sheltered transients and earned the moniker “the party house” for reasons that are self-explanatory. Today it's propped up by beams, details of which are abstracted below.




While the barn is historically important, its provenance gained luster when I learned that Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving, his cattle driving partner back in Texas, were the real-life models for the characters Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae in Larry McMurtry’s epic “Lonesome Dove.” 

And now you know the rest of the story.

3 comments:

John Farnsworth said...

Great shots, Steve, and a good telling. I hope the show went well?

Blacks Crossing said...

Great to have "the rest of the story." The first photograph is a fantastic gathering of architectural elements cobbled together to make an odd but quite effective whole. Thanks for capturing that. Since John mentioned "he hoped the show went well", I gather you had an image or two or three in the show. Best of luck on that.

Steve Immel said...

Thanks you two. The benefit show at the Sangre was all paintings of which two were Peggy's. I was her faithful sidekick Tonto.