At Last...Turquoise
- Michael Jay Tucker's explosive-cargo
- Apr 3
- 4 min read
Okay, finally, I’m going to get to the Turquoise Museum.(1)
Honestly, I wasn’t really aware of the Turquoise Museum until very recently. I think I’d heard of it, but if so, then I was only vaguely aware of the place as one of the many jewelry-themed attractions around the city. I gather its original location was in Old Town and had been there for a long time.
Martha, however, had noticed it...I think in some of the tourist literature she’d picked up on one of our visits, or even when we were still living in Albuquerque. She’s a great fan of tourist literature. It’s one of our standing family jokes...I forget things, David doesn’t return text messages unless he’s (gently) hounded, and Martha picks up stuff at tourist centers. We’ve got brochures of picturesque spots everywhere from Amsterdam to Zanzibar. And, now and then, we actually get around to visiting some of them. Not all. But some. Zanzibar is probably a no-go in the short term, but, you never know. They say the beaches are great.(2)
Anyway...she knew about it and, before our trip, she remembered it. And she suggested it to me. It seemed like a great idea. So, I bought tickets online. It was then that I discovered that they’d moved...specifically, the Museum was now located in “The Castle” on Second Street and Lead Avenue Southwest.
What’s the Castle? you say. So glad you asked, I reply. It didn’t exist when I lived in Albuquerque as boy, and, when we moved back to look after my mom and dad, I didn’t know about it. I mean, I never noticed it. Until...
One driving back after visiting my dad in the hospital downtown. (This was just before he went into hospice.) I took a wrong turn and ended on the fringe of things. I looked up, and ...
Whoa!
About the photos: Three today. First, two shots of the exterior of the Castle, now home of the Museum. It is a bit of a surprise to come upon a French Château in the middle of downtown ABQ. Then, Martha on the inside of the Museum, doing her imitation of a Game Show Model. (Sorry. The shot is a little fuzzy.)
There, just across the railroad tracks from me, was an enormous building. It literally looked like a Castle. Or maybe a French Château. It was, in fact, a mansion...several stories tall, adorned with gargoyles and surrounded by a tall ornate metal fence.
But the kicker was where it was located. At the time, it was a pretty bad neighborhood to say the least. I mean, this was a Château in an area that was way better known for its homeless people and occasional muggings than its haut culture.
So what the hell was it doing there? Who built the thing? And why?
I wouldn’t find the answers to those questions for quite a long time. I still don’t have the whole story. But, I have managed to get a rough idea of its origins...and it is a remarkable tale, indeed, full of gems and wonder, and as fabulous as Aladdin’s cave.
I’m going to jump ahead of myself a little, now. In a short while, I’m going to talk about Native American craftsmen and -women, and the history of Indian Jewelry. But, I’m also going to talk about the mostly white and mostly Anglo traders and shop keepers who realized there was money to be made by taking Southwestern Indian Jewelry to customers on the East Coast and elsewhere.
Several of these men and women became very important and their actions shaped New Mexico’s politics and economy for decades to come. Moreover, some of these individuals established not only businesses but dynasties, as their children and grandchildren went into the family trade. One of the most important of these dynasties was the Zachary clan.
I’m going to talk about the Zacharys quite a bit, but, here’s where I’m going to jump ahead. For just a moment, we’re going to focus on one Zachary in particular, to wit, Gertrude Zachary.
Actually, she wasn’t born a Zachary. Rather she married (very briefly) into the clan in 1974. By 1975, the marriage was decidedly over.(3) When court had adjourned and the dust had settled, Gertrude received as part of the settlement a jewelry manufacturing facility from her ex-husband.(4) She was a gifted businesswoman and she soon turned the facility into a vast jewelry empire which exists to the present day. (5)
By 2000, Ms. Zachary was a very wealthy woman. And, at that point, she decided she might like to build a house for herself.
And we’ll get to that next time.
More to come.
Footnotes:
1. Once again, the Museum’s webpage is here: https://turquoisemuseum.com/
2. Actually, I just looked it up. Tourism accounts for a quarter of the area’s income. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Zanzibar
Oh, and if the country doesn’t work out, there’s a restaurant and bar in Austin called Zanzibar. One of these days, we’ll have to go there. Here’s the website: https://www.zanzibaratx.com/
3. For the details of Ms. Zachary’s remarkable life and career, I rely on a number of different sources, most of which are listed below. The dates of her marriage into the Zachary family I take from here: “Turquoise Museum moves into Gertrude Zachary castle,” by Brittany Bade, Posted: Apr 5, 2019 / 06:40 AM MDT, Updated: Apr 6, 2019 / 01:39 PM MDT, KRQE News, https://www.krqe.com/news/turquoise-museum-moves-into-gertrude-zachary-castle/.
4. That she obtained her first jewelry facility as part of the divorce settlement is referenced here: “Woman Builds French-Style Mansion on Skid Row,” by Julia Flynn Siler, Wednesday, January 15, 2014, in the blog, Alcoholic Outsider Artist, http://alcoholicoutsiderartist.blogspot.com/2014/01/woman-builds-french-style-mansion-on.html
5. You can see the Gertrude Zachary company’s jewelry here: https://gertrudezachary.com/
Copyright©2025 Michael Jay Tucker
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