Mills Mansion, Springer, New Mexico

Описание: Several years ago when I visited Springer in northeastern New Mexico, I sought out the old Mills Mansion, former home of turn-of-the-century attorney and entrepreneur Melvin Whitson Mills. The mansion is closed, unfortunately, but I had to see it. Mr. Mills' story is as grand as the mansion he built for himself. A tycoon of the first order, he cultivated a career in business, law, and horticulture -- planting some 3,000 trees along the floor of the Canadian River Canyon south of Springer. A flood ruined his orchards and, thus, his fortune, and he died broke some years later in this very house.

Though not intentionally, I captured the photos and sound recording years apart and at different times of day. I took the photos upon first visiting the mansion years ago, one morning before leaving town, just as the rays of the reveille sun struck the house and exposed the wild and overgrown grasses in the yards at the front and back. The sound recording I did more recently, but in the evening, when the crickets were on high alert and the soft, muted sounds of evening were descending. It seems to me that the overlapping sound and images from disjointed times actually create a wholeness to the experience of the Mills Mansion that I probably couldn't have captured otherwise.

Sounds can be deceiving. What sounds like the wind in this recording is really the low-grade hum of cars and trucks on the interstate, about a mile away. And to a small degree, the sound of the crickets is enhanced by the buzz of a streetlight at the front of the house. (If you listen closely, you can hear the buzz...or you can just take my word for it.)

Usually I try to keep from introducing any noise myself into recordings, but in this case I couldn't resist walking back and forth across the porch several times and capturing the response of the heavy wooden planks to my footsteps. What a beautiful sound, so true to the character and atmosphere of this grand and historic structure. It sounds like I'm intentionally stomping, but I wasn't. The boards really do resonate that dramatically just from normal footfalls. Nobody is going to sneak up on you here.

Upon hearing rustling in the bushes and trees that frame the west side of the house, I figured I'd recorded long enough and departed.