White Sands Visitor's Center

At the entrance of the mesmerizing White Sands National Monument, you are greeted by a dark brown adobe building. The visitors center features a native plant garden just outside of the entrance, where you will spot plants like yucca trees and cacti.

As far as visitors centers of the National Park Service go, this one stands apart for it’s interesting architecture and beauty. Built in the Spanish Pueblo Adobe style of the Southwest, it is a testament to the area’s architectural traditions. The building was built between 1936 and 1938 in the Great Depression. The building of the structure was planned as a job-creation endeavor.

Like many NPS visitors centers, the one at White Sands offers gift shops, a museum about the history and geology of this unique monument, and traveler’s amenities such as restrooms and picnic areas. This center also has a theater, which to me resembles many of the small Catholic chapels of the American Southwest. The theater was lined with photos of wildlife that inhabit the area and hand-carved wooden benches filled its interior.

this model of the Tularosa basin lives in the courtyard of the museum.