NMHS | March 2025

In the 1860s, Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner was where more than 9,500 Dine (Navajo) and approximately 500 Nde (Mescalero Apache) people were forcibly removed and subsequently interned.  Despite the Memorial’s painful past, the president of the Friends of the Bosque Redondo Memorial, Mary Ann Cortese, had a vision to allow young visitors in particular the opportunity to create art—when words were not enough—by drawing symbols or phrases on small tiles that reflected their reactions to the site.

Today, the outdoor tile mural called Reactions to Hweeldi is comprised of 1,276 handmade tiles and stands magnificently at 12 feet high by 63 feet long. Although mural began in 2007, a $60,000 special appropriation by the State’s Legislature allowed the project to be completed in 2023.  To learn more about and plan your visit to Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner, click here. To learn more about the Historic Sites, click here.