The small village of La Luz, New Mexico ranks as one of the oldest Spanish settlements in the Tularosa Basin. Jose Manuel Gutierrez led the settlers to this area around 1860, and their traces of life still remain. Conflicting stories surround the name La Luz. According to a local historian, the name arose because settlers forging ahead would alert those behind about the safety of the area by lighting a fire.

The original town site stands at the intersection of Alamo Street and Florida Avenue stands. El Presidio Parque, named for the original town, called Presidio, stands where an adobe wall once enclosed the settlement. Some of the homes that surround the park today date from this period.

The D. H. Sutherland House, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, stands south of the park. This is a private home and not accessible to the public. It is said that Billy the Kid once hid in one of the home's chimneys while Pat Garrett searched for him. Of course, legal guests visited as well. Judge Albert Fountain spent what is believed to be his last night in this house. Traveling to a trial in Las Cruces, the judge and his son disappeared after they set out from this house.

This sleepy little section of La Luz retains the charm of that first settlement. The adobe structures and quaintness of the area remind visitors about what parts of New Mexico looked like in the second half of the nineteenth century.