Where Lew Wallace wrote the Crucifixion scenes of Ben-Hur

The Palace of the Governors didn't just survive the 1680 Pueblo Revolt or the transition from Spanish to Mexican rule. It also survived a very stressed-out governor in 1879 who was trying to write a bestseller while looking over his shoulder for bullets.

Pedro de Peralta started the construction in 1610, though some researchers think he actually didn't get around to it until 1618. The building is a sturdy piece of adobe work designed to blend into the New Mexico dirt and sky. It served as the seat of government for centuries, overseeing a territory that once stretched across most of the American Southwest, including parts of Texas and Arizona.

By the late 1870s, the building was the seat of power for the U.S. territory. That is when Lew Wallace took up residence as governor. During a nasty thunderstorm in the spring of 1879, Wallace retreated to the shuttered governor's study to write the climactic Crucifixion scenes of Ben-Hur. He had just come from a tense meeting with Billy the Kid and was pretty sure someone might try to shoot him. He finished the scenes by the light of a shaded lamp while listening to the storm.

Today, the building is a National Historic Landmark. It stopped being the state history museum in 2009 to make room for a new facility next door. You can still see the Territorial Style architecture and the thick adobe walls that have stood since the early 17th century.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons