We took a 2 hour walking tour that was fascinating. The tour guide showed us a replica of an old cabin that early homesteaders lived in. Many buildings were constructed by the Los Alamos Ranch School, who owned much of the property before the government took it over. There's a gorgeous lodge and other smaller buildings. We saw statues of famous general Leslie Groves and scientist Robert Oppenheimer. The museum itself is very interesting, too. There's currently an exhibit about all that women did in World War 2.

The little museum itself was surprisingly packed with informative displays. We lucked out with timing to join the morning walking tour. The guide was very knowledgeable and provided lots of insights into life at Los Alamos. We found the tour so interesting that we picked up the walking tour brochure and retraced the route on our own. We especially wanted to spend more time at the Hans Bethe house; the gentleman on staff that day was an absolute delight.

We took the 'History of the Secret City' tour with Joan. Very interesting to tour the historic buildings and hear about the Hispanic farmers, the Ranch School and of course the Manhattan Project. Highly recommend this tour.

Here you will get a sense of what this place was like before the Manhattan Project when it was primarily a Ranch School for wealthy kids. Rather isolated but with running water and electricity, its rural area and being away from almost everything--this was place to develop the nuclear bomb in secret. The ranch was started in 1907 but was taken over by the government in the early 40s for Project Y. And then take the self-guided tour to explore such things as bathtub row houses (considered to be a luxury--a bathtub), the remnant of an ancient pueblo site, the massive Fuller Lodge with over 700 cut beam timbers, the home of Robert and Kitty Oppenheimer and much much more. Suggestion: pick up the self-guide and wear comfortable shoes.

To me this was much better than I expected. While I found it all interesting, I enjoyed the history of the ranch before the Manhattan project. We really enjoyed the lady staffing the house next door to Oppenheimers house who shared more history and also explained things about the town of Los Alamos itself.