La Huerta, NM

La Huerta, once known as Carlsbad North, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place just north of Carlsbad in Eddy County. The 2020 census counted 1,448 residents. Its Spanish name means 'fruit garden,' a nod to the orchards and garden plots that once supplied food to Carlsbad. The Pecos River runs less than a mile south, and the community shares the Carlsbad Municipal Schools map, including Carlsbad High. La Huerta sits where the city edge meets the irrigated Pecos Valley. Roads lead into Carlsbad for shopping, government, and school, while the river and older agricultural parcels keep the land's earlier purpose in view.

Water, not rainfall, is the reason the green strip could hold on in this dry corner of New Mexico. The community is small and spread out, but its name still tells you what made the place useful: green plots beside the river, feeding a desert town. La Huerta is a north-Carlsbad neighborhood with an orchard name and a Pecos Valley landscape.