“The House at Otowi Bridge: The Story of Edith Warner and Los Alamos” Peggy Pond Church

Every now and then, a small book comes our way –  resonates with readers and sparks extensive discussions. Such is the 1987 version of Edith Warner’s life in New Mexico. This publication serves as a backdrop for a friendship of two remarkable women who lived and loved the area known as Los Alamos and Bandolier National Monument, land nestled in the Jemez Mountains near the confluence of the Rio Grande and Rio Chama Rivers. The book is part biography, part natural and cultural history, as well as a good story. Included are some of Edith’s Christmas letters, a few of the author’s poems and artist Connie Fox Boyd’s charming pencil sketches

Edith Warner, a single woman from Pennsylvania, visited San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico in 1922. Six years later, she began her life in a loaned-out small house near a bridge. For more than 20 years Edith was neighbor and friend to the Native Americans, Hispanic and Anglo settlers, and to the international scientists at Los Alamos. Her entire time in New Mexico can be described by her love of the natural world, her innate leaning toward a simple life and her tenacity to maintain a little tea room for all who needed to stop, rest and enjoy a piece of chocolate cake.

Through this remarkable book, the reader becomes acquainted with some of New Mexico’s historical sites, such as the Los Alamos Ranch School that later became the site for the Manhattan Project. Woven into the history are names the reader may recognize: Robert Oppenheimer and Nils Bohr, along with their families. A local name is also important to the story: Tilano Montoya, former governor and elder of the nearby Pueblo. He and Edith share a long and complex companionship.

Though Peggy Pond Church’s story ends with Edith’s death in 1951, the University of New Mexico’s library has additional information on the state’s changing land use in a changing world.