Carlotta Thompkins Thurmond

Lottie Deno collected names as she moved: the Angel of San Antonio, Mystic Maud at Fort Concho, and the Queen of the Pasteboards at Fort Griffin, where Doc Holliday sat at her table. In 1877 she followed the gambler Frank Thurmond to Kingston, where they ran a gaming room, and later owned the Broadway Restaurant in Silver City. They married there on December 2, 1880. In Deming, Frank went from mining to land sales to vice president of the Deming National Bank, and she was known as Aunt Lottie. She died on February 9, 1934, and lies beside him.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Carlotta Thompkins Thurmond "Lottie Deno" (1844-1934) Immortalized in literature and film, Kentucky native Carlotta Thurmond was the inspiration for Miss Kitty on television's "Gunsmoke." Having toured Europe's best gambling houses as a child with her father, in Texas she called herself "Lottie Deno," a play on "lotta dinero." Fellow gamblers said she had ice water in her veins, yet when she moved to Kingston, New Mexico, she left many belongings for the needy. She gave up gambling upon moving in 1882 from Silver City to Deming where she co-founded St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Official Scenic Historic Marker New Mexico Historic Women Marker Initiative The New Mexico Historic Women Marker Initiative was founded in 2005 by members of the New Mexico Women's Forum in a statewide effort to recognize women's contributions to New Mexico history on the state's Official Scenic Historic Markers. The Initiative ensures that women's diverse histories will be remembered and told, and will inspire and provide a guide for future generations. The 2006 Legislature funded the project.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• City of Rocks State Park — 6.7 mi
  Pinnacles of volcanic tuff up to forty feet high standing in the grassland between Deming and Silver City, worn out of an eruption 34.9 million years ago.
• Santa Rita Copper Mine — 21 mi
  The copper pit east of Silver City that swallowed the town it was named for, beneath a spire of volcanic rock long said to look like a nun at prayer.

More markers nearby

• City of Rocks State Park — 6.3 mi
• The Death of Mangas Coloradas — 12 mi
• Bayard — 19 mi
• Deming — 19 mi