Breaking bread: For over 100 years, Supper Rock has been a meeting point for community coming together

More than 100 years ago there was a spot east of Albuquerque, at the base of the Sandia Mountains, where groups of people gathered on a regular basis to share a meal and watch the sun set.

The evening pilgrimages became a local tradition that lasted for decades. At some point the meeting spot was christened Supper Rock. Whether it was given that name officially or a tongue-and-cheek tribute to its function is unknown, but one thing is certain – a lot of eating took place at that rock in the early 1900s, and probably before that.

A letter to the Journal’s Action Line on Dec. 23, 1970, offers some clues to its popularity and naming. Mrs. E.R. of Las Cruces wanted to know if Supper Rock was still there and if not, what had replaced it. The headline said Supper Rock was still there but “little used” at that time.

“Years ago when I was growing up in Albuquerque, we used to go out to ‘Supper Rock’ about sundown for our picnics,” she said. “That was how the rock got its name.”

The Journal replied: “Supper Rock is still there, about a mile or less north of the Western Skies Hotel … Houses are going up around the famous picnic spot for early Albuquerqueans but the very visible Supper Rock can be seen easily from the freeway.”

No clear answer exists for when the tradition began, but notices about people hosting get-togethers out there started to pop-up in local newspapers after 1915.

Breaking bread: For over 100 years Supper Rock has been a meeting point for community coming together

On Memorial Day in 1918, the Rotary Club of Albuquerque planned a huge gathering “promptly at sunset,” with attendees encouraged to bring a basket lunch, according to a May 24 story in the Albuquerque Morning Journal. The guest speaker on that day was New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Richard H. Hanna, whose parents came to New Mexico from Kankakee, Illinois in 1900.

The day also included patriotic songs provided by the Indian School band. The club said at the time that it hoped to make this an annual custom featuring “quaint Indian dances typical of the southwest … given by some of the different tribes of Indians living adjacent to Albuquerque.”

“It has been decided by the Rotarians that as the southwest enjoyed its civilization years before the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, it is fitting that some of the customs of our early pioneers should be kept fresh in the minds of the people,” the story said. “It is hoped that the first year will see several thousand people assembled at this historic spot where a typical New Mexico sunset can be observed.”

Although the event was a big to-do, the Rotary club had been using the rock as a gathering place for many years. An announcement in the April 16, 1916, Albuquerque Journal discusses the Rotary club’s “first mesa picnic of the season” in which “a party motored out to the Supper Rock … and had a jolly good outing.”

It was obvious, despite the modern way they arrived at the spot, the approach to gender roles remained firmly unmodern.

“A hot lunch was cooked by the feminine contingent upon arrival at the picnic ground, to which full justice was done,” the article said. “And then everybody sat around a big bonfire, and sat, and sat, and sat.”

Supper Rock was a popular destination for other groups and people as well, according to newspaper articles from the first half of the 1900s. University of New Mexico’s Army Training Corps took a hike out there in November of 1918. A group from the Methodist church spent the afternoon up there in August of 1919 eating, indulging in games, singing and telling stories.

On a Wednesday in September of 1920, a doctor and his wife hosted a picnic supper there and in June of 1923 the member of the Woman’s Club Chorus hosted a picnic for their families. The members of the Federal Employees Union hosted a picnic lunch there in June of 1925, followed by the University Association of Engineers “weenie roast” in September.

Miss Grace Friend and Mr. Dan G. Steckdaub tied the knot on top of Supper Rock on July 14, 1934, leaving that evening to make a new home in California.

On and on and on, an endless stream of people made there way to the boulder outcropping described in one article as a “short distance from the Tijeras road near the foot of the mountains east of the city.”

The Supper Rock picnic area was also once a place for University of New Mexico students to show off their pride. There was a big “U” painted on the hillside near the culinary rock. A blurb in the Oct. 10, 1931, edition of the Albuquerque Journal mentions that UNM’s varsity freshman football players would provide a new coat of paint with the sophomore players supervising. The goal was to have it done before the boys faced Occidental College on Oct. 31.

City development continued creeping east and the first signs of expansion reaching the area began to crop up in newspaper articles in the early 1940s with notices of neighborhood platting being done. A new subdivision named Sandia Manor opened for public inspection in 1948, according to a May 9 story in the Journal.

“The 40-acre addition is about a quarter mile north of the 1200 block East Central, and is about 200 feet east of the long-famed picnic spot of Supper Rock,” the story said.

An avalanche of development would eventually come to the area, burying the natural setting in asphalt, brick and concrete. The famous rock and once-popular picnic area is now home to a city park. It’s surrounded by blocks of houses that are part of the Supper Rock Neighborhood Association, which includes 10 subdivisions.

Kathleen Schindler-Wright, president of the Supper Rock Neighborhood Association, has been researching the history of the rock. She said it was the place for picnicking in the early 1900s. Neighbors have told her that it had a sheep station and because it was at the edge of town, people would come out to the rock to meet the wagon trains the passed through, inviting them for supper.

People have plenty of other outdoor spaces to gather these days but Supper Rock stands tall as a reminder of Albuquerque’s longtime love affair and appreciation of the area’s natural wonders.

Curious about how a town, street or building got its name? Email columnist Elaine Briseño at ebriseno@abqjournal.com as she continues the monthly journey in “What’s in a Name?”