Who installed the head? Were the head bolts torqued in proper sequence and retorqued? Did you bleed all the air out of the cooling system when you filled it? What was the temp gauge doing when the engine failed? From the little information given, it almost sounds like you had air in the head and it overheated. If that is the case and you drove it until it stopped, there is a good chance you have a cracked head and even possibly a warped block.

Like Tim says, the head is supposed to have water in it.