C. M. MAYO
Author of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, etc.

C.M. Mayo < Publications < Research < Photos <

Río Frío
(on the highway between Mexico City
and the city of Puebla)
Photos by C.M. Mayo
Río Frío (Cold River) is a town on the superhighway between Mexico City and the city of Puebla. Sneeze and you'd miss it. But back in the time of my novel-- the mid-19th century-- it was an important stop on the stagecoach highway that came through the sierra en route to Puebla and the main port at Veracruz. There was an inn and a fort, which, from the look of it today, must have taken a couple century's worth of bullets and mortars. In March 1866, Baron Frédéric Victor d'Huart, a close friend and aide to the Empress Carlota's brother, the Duke of Flanders, was murdered here by bandits.

Read the excerpt from the novel.

This is a photo of trees along the road, as I imagine the stagecoach highway might have looked then.



The fort:





Read an excerpt from the novel set near Río Frío.