Photo: Van Ann Moore performs at the Ft. Bayard 148th Birthday Celebration as Molly Brown.

Join the celebration. Help the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society celebrate the 148th Birthday with games for children, tours, book signings, and -- most important -- a Birthday Cake.

The celebration begins at 9:15 am on August 23, 2014, at the Fort Bayard National Historic Landmark for the Flag Ceremony. The museum will also open at 9:15 am. The tour will begin at 9:30 am from the museum. Vintage games for children and adults of all ages will be available throughout the morning. Book Signings will begin at 10:30 am. Richard Melzer, author of recently published Sanatoriums of New Mexico and Andrea Jaquez and Neta Pope co-authors of The Fort Bayard Story - 1866 - 1899 will sign their books. Refreshments will be served at 11 am. Help blow out the candles on Ft. Bayard's Birthday Cake!

Photo: Richard Melzer

Richard Melzer's work, Sanatoriums of New Mexico, contains chapters on both Fort Bayard U.S. Army Hospital and the sanitoriums of Silver City. Melzer has taught history at the University of New Mexico Valencia Campus since 1979. He is the author, co-author, or editor of 18 books as well as over a hundred articles and chapters about New Mexico history. He is past president of both the Historical Society of New Mexico and the Valencia County Historical Society.

The New Mexico Humanities Council's Chautauqua performance of Molly Brown will conclude Fort Bayard's 148th Birthday Celebration at 7 pm, August 23, in the New Deal Theater at Fort Bayard National Historic Landmark. Ms. Van Ann Moore will perform as Molly Brown. Van Ann Moore's many talents as actor, singer and historian will bring Molly Brown to life. Molly's life, from a miner's wife, to a Denver Socialite, to a 1912 survivor of the Titantic is one of grand adventure.