Corona is spanish for crown or summit, an appropriate name for this
hamlet on a hill.
A small town on Highway 54 in Lincoln County, Corona
is a very tiny place even for sparsely-populated east-central New Mexico.
When I drove through it for the first time, it seemed to be deserted, except for a small, black-haired child, clad only in blue overalls, standing in the door of a storefront church. I remembered Children of the Corn.
Then I hit the accelerator.
On our return trip,
we saw several 18-wheelers and their drivers stopped on the roadside, so we felt safe enough to stretch our legs.
No homicidal children were encountered, and the trip continued without incident.
Corona is modestly famous for being the highest elevation
(6660 feet, or 2028 meters) on the Southern Pacific Railroad between Chicago and
Los Angeles. The town was established as a loading point for regional cattle ranchers and farmers in 1902.
Corona is not famous for the Roswell crash in
1947, though the alien space craft actually
crashed in between Corona and Roswell. I think Roswell
is just a decoy, the greys are in Corona.
A quiet, scenic place, irrational fears aside.
It is approximately midway between Santa Fe and Alamogordo.
Historical factoids from www.zianet.com/snm/nogal.htm