Santa Fe and Taos New Mexico

The Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA is a former Roman Catholic church that is now used as a museum and wedding chapel.  It is known for its unusual helix-shaped spiral staircase (the "Miraculous Stair"), that may have been created by French carpenter François-Jean "Frenchy" Rochas. The Sisters of Loretto credit St. Joseph with its construction.
It has been the subject of legend and rumor, and the circumstances surrounding its construction and its builder are considered miraculous by the Sisters of Loretto and many visitors

http://www.lorettochapel.com/history.html

 

 

San Miguel Mission, also known as San Miguel Chapel, is a Spanish colonial mission church in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Built between approximately 1610 and 1626, it is claimed to be the oldest church in the United States. The church was damaged during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 but was rebuilt in 1710 following the Spanish reconquest and served for a time as a chapel for the Spanish soldiers. The wooden reredos, which includes a wooden statue of Saint Michael dating back to at least 1709, was added in 1798. Though the church has been repaired and rebuilt numerous times over the years, its original adobe walls are still largely intact despite having been hidden by later additions.



 

 

Downtown shopping area 

 

 

De Vargas Street House, located at 215 East De Vargas Street on the eastern side of Old Santa Fe Trail in Santa Fe, New Mexico is one of the Oldest buildings in America.

The Oldest House rests on part of the foundation of an ancient Indian Pueblo dating from around 1200 AD. This pueblo was once inhabited by a tribe from the Tano speaking tribes of the northern part of the territory. Sometime around 1435 AD, this tribe abandoned their village, moving on to other sites farther south in search of water, better fields or hunting grounds. In 1598, Don Juan de Onate led a party of Spanish settlers into the area in search of a suitable place to establish a permanent settlement. Accompanying Onate were Tlaxcalen Indian warrior auxiliaries. The small band seems to have gravitated to their own ward, or barrio, soon known as El Barrio de Analco at the same time La Villa Real de Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asisi was founded in 1608.
The Tlaxcala’s found the river site met their every need. The river provided ample water for the irrigation of cornfields to the south of the San Miguel Church and an abundance of sweet tasting stream trout to grace their tables.
By the late 1800s, genizaros or acculturated plains Indians such as the Apaches and Navajos, as well as the families of Spanish soldiers were living in the Barrio. Up until the 1920s the Oldest House was continually occupied by people representing all the cultures of Santa Fe.

 

 

The Town of Taos was incorporated as a general law municipality on May 7, 1934.
It has a Mayor/Council form of government, along with an appointed Town Manager to manage the affairs of the Town.
The long and proud history of the Town dates back to August 29, 1540 when Capitan Hernando Alvarado as part of the expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado arrived in the Taos Valley for the first time. They saw the magnificent ancient towering pueblo structures of the historic Taos Pueblo, and the peaceful Tiwa Indians who had inhabited the area for centuries. It was a peaceful meeting, and gifts were exchanged. That first meeting was the first of many cultural exchanges that were to forever change the valley we know as Taos today. Later, Don Juan de Onate, the first Governor of what is now New Mexico established colonies under the Spanish crown in most of Northern New Mexico. By 1615, Taos was established as a Spanish Village, and had an appointed Alcalde (Mayor).  The peaceful co-existence between these two cultures eroded over time, and led to conflicts between religious beliefs and the treatment of the native peoples. On August 10, 1680 a large pueblo revolt under the leadership of Pope, a San Juan Pueblo Indian, was underway which led to the expulsion of the Spanish from New Mexico.
Twelve years passed, and then, in august of 1692, Don Diego de Vargas was appointed leader of an expedition which was to conquer once more, convert souls, but, perhaps above all, find the mines of silver in New Mexico. De Vargas conquered the land, and established the Capital at Santa Fe.
Many of the Indians again came easily under the Spanish flag, but it was not until 1696 that the proud Taos Pueblo Indians made their last stand, and then surrendered.
Taos is now a community overflowing with a long proud history, three cultures living side by side, and a heritage of colorful people. Its diversity makes Taos a very interesting and desirable place to live and do business.

Downtown shopping area

 

 

An Earthship is a unique type of passive solar house that is made of both natural and recycled materials (such as earth-filled tires), designed and marketed by Earthship Biotecture of Taos, New Mexico. The term is a registered trademark of Michael Reynolds.
Earthships are primarily designed to work as autonomous buildings using thermal mass construction and a natural cross ventilation that is assisted by thermal draught (Stack effect) to regulate indoor temperature. Earthships are generally quite often considered to be off-the-grid homes, minimizing their reliance on both public utilities and fossil fuels.
Earthships are built to utilize the available local resources, especially energy from the sun. For example, windows on sun-facing walls admit lighting and heating, and the buildings are often horseshoe-shaped to maximize natural light and solar-gain during winter months. The thick and dense earth-rammed tire walls, through varying amounts of sunlight and shade, provide thermal mass that naturally regulates the interior temperature during both cold and hot outside temperatures.

 

The adobe structures are estimated to be over a thousand years old. When the Spanish came to Pueblo country, some assumed they had found their “Cities of Gold” because of the miccaceous mineral found in the clay used for mudding the buildings. Micca, for short, glitters in light therefore the assumption was made by the Spanish. The Adobe structures are mudded every year by owners of the homes or by a designated group of men. The majority of the homes are still owned and maintained by the family.
The homes are generally passed down from one generation to the next with, usually, the eldest son being the sole owner. These homes are still used for religious and cultural activities. The homes are the connection to our way of life and to our ancestors.

The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, locally known as the "Gorge Bridge" and the "High Bridge", is a steel deck arch bridge across the Rio Grande Gorge 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Taos, New Mexico, United States. At 565 feet (172 m) above the Rio Grande, it is the seventh highest bridge in the United States and 82nd highest bridge in the world.

Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) — known as Kit Carson — was an American trailblazer and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a mountain man and trapper in the West. Carson explored the west to Spanish California, and north through the Rocky Mountains.  He lived among and married into the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes. He was hired by John C. Fremont as a guide, and led 'the Pathfinder' through much of California, Oregon and the Great Basin area. He achieved national fame through Fremont's accounts of his expeditions and was featured as the hero of many dime novels.
During the Mexican-American war from 1846 to 1848, Carson was a courier and scout, celebrated for his rescue mission after the Battle of San Pasqual and for his coast-to-coast journey from California to Washington, DC to deliver news of the war to the U.S. government at the capital. In the 1850s, he was appointed as the Indian Agent to the Ute and Jicarilla Apaches. In the Civil War, he led a regiment of mostly Hispanic volunteers on the side of the Union at the Battle of Valverde in 1862. Later during the Indian Wars, Carson led armies to suppress the Navajo, Mescalero Apache, and the Kiowa and Comanche Indians. He is criticized for his conquest of the Navajo and their forced transfer to Bosque Redondo, where many died. Breveted a general, Carson is probably the only illiterate American to reach such a high military rank; he could not write more than his name.