Since the 1600’s all the Native Pueblo People living in northern New Mexico have had the added dimension of Spain and the Catholic Church The Spanish established a colony in 1617 two miles from the Taos Pueblo which later became the town of Taos. In the 1800’s, farmers came to what is now Rancho de Taos. Their mission church, San Francisco de Assisi, became one of the most frequently photographed buildings in the state. [See upcoming blog for pictures.] You have already seen the Taos Pueblo in blog 43.6/10, now we will show you something of what we saw in the plaza area of Taos—although the picture will be unbalanced—for the soul of Taos is really its artists and galleries, but not being connoisseurs of art, we are not able to properly depict that part of the picture.
What struck us the most was the Taos-style of building—the colorful reddish-brown to beige adobes with their soft mud curves and only one or two stories high. Their form provides endless photographs of their colorful shapes.The first two pictures show OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CHURCH, originally built on the Plaza two hundred years ago, but after it burned down in 1961, was rebuilt just north of the Plaza.
After Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, we wandered around the Plaza area. The Plaza is no longer where all important business is conducted and where the Indian, Spanish, and Anglo traders met, it has evolved into T-shirt, souvenir, and moccasin paradise. There are still a few government offices, an old hotel, bank and one or two noted galleries, but many of the more important artists and galleries have moved off to the surrounding streets, especially, Ledoux Street and the city has built a new spiffy civic center elsewhere.
TAOS PLAZAIf you are like me, we put Taos and Santa Fe on the same level, yet Santa Fe has more than 10 times the population and Taos is far from population centers and transportation hubs. Taos seems to have a certain combination of factors that has enamored Anglos from all over the country.
For a town of less than 5,000 people, Taos can drop some famous names. Kit Carson, renowned frontiersman, scout, hunter, soldier, Indian-fighter bought a 12 room adobe for his bride in 1843 and lived there with his family for 25 years. He is remembered by a major street, a Park, a mountain, and a National Forest.
Artists were attracted to the area back in 1898 when the painters, Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips settled here. In 1915 they helped form the Taos Society of Artists which helped put Taos on the map as a center of creativity.
LA FONDA HOTEL
TAOS MERCANTILE COCoincidentally, two of Taos’s most influential promoters were transplanted New York socialites who were also art connoisseurs. Mabel Dodge Sterne Luhan arrived in Taos in 1918, married locally and then took up the mission to share the local American Indian culture with the luminaries of her day. Through persistent effort she was able to entice such notable figures as Georgia O’Keeffe, D.H.Lawrence, and Ansel Adams to visit Taos.
TAOS ADOBE Clothing StoreThe second socialite was the glamorous Standard Oil heiress, Millicent Rogers, who relocated to Taos in 1947. Her collection of Southwestern art, especially, Navajo and Pueblo Indian art is on display at the Rogers museum as well as extensive collections of turquoise jewelry and pottery.
FIRST COMMUNITY BANKThis is Georgia O’Keefe country. Her presence and paintings were a hugh influence in the area. Her paintings around Rancho de Taos (San Francisco de Assisi Church) are very well-known. Although her museum is located in Santa Fe, she despised that city, for what she saw as its pretentiousness and commercialism, and move to the small town of Abiquiú just south of Taos.
AMIGOS BRAVOSFriends of the Wild Rivers
D.H.Lawrence, the British writer, bought a home and land just to the west of Taos, where he did some of his better writing. He returned to Europe to die, but his widow brought his ashes back to be buried in a shrine on the ranch where he wrote.
LOCAL HOME Just Off the Plaza
Maybe this is a place to mention some references we used in researching New Mexico. The most concise, but complete guide turns out to be the AAA Tourbook. Other useful books include Santa Fe Taos & Albuquerque by Access Press, and the fairly complete The New Mexico Guide by Charles L. Cadieux, Fulcrum Publishing. We also find a lot of local information and specialized maps at Visitor’s Centers.
INGER JERBY GALLERY & CASITASOne of the most important guides we have is Laurent Martrès’ Photographing the Southwest, Vol. 1–3 covering Southern Utah, Arizona , and Colorado & New Mexico, respectively. If you are at all interested in photography of these areas, you must get these books. There are no other photo books like them—naming & rating the photogenic sites, beautiful pictures of the sites, plus photographic tips from a very experienced guide along with directions how to get there. If you are not planning to spend a year in these places, these books give you the information you need to make an intelligent choice of where and when to spend your time.
We have been mainly using two sources of information for camping. The old reliable, but strictly, limited AAA Campbook. and Southwest Camping Destinations by Mike & Terri Church, Rolling Homes Press. The latter is more complete, but somewhat difficult to use—if you can’t find the place in the index, you probably won’t be able to find it at all, even though it may be in the book.
