Northern New Mexico is a beautiful remote area where the Rocky Mountains are divided into two strands by a stark plain that aims north like as arrowhead into the heart of Colorado. The west strand consists of the San Juan Mountains that we have been traversing while the east strand is formed by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Our journey southeast from Durango continues to weave through the San Juan Mountains from Colorado into New Mexico.
Heading east from Durango the road twists through rugged juniper forests with the massive peaks of the San Juan Mountains brooding to the north.
Chimney Rock rises above the forest.
As we drop down towards the town of Pagosa Springs the view to the east is one of a formidable land…
Striking south towards New Mexico the vegetation quickly changes to that of a more arid climate.
This is towards the end of the summer monsoon season and as we skip across the high mountain plateaus of northern New Mexico the brush is in bloom and verdant grass graces the mountains.
A sharp decline managed with twisting switchbacks takes out onto the Taos Plain, and amazingly flat plateau stretching nearly 30 miles to the east at this point. The village of Taos sits at the base of the distant mountains.
Here’s a view of the plains from the Taos side, looking to the west.
What does not appear in that picture is the narrow crack that runs all the way across from north to south. The Rio Grande River rises in the mountains of Colorado and runs south through New Mexico, bisecting this plain that is the remnant of an ancient lake bed. About 7 miles west of Taos Highway 64 crosses the crack in a graceful arch.
Walking out onto the bridge one gets amazing views of the gorge both north and south.
The area around Taos has been inhabited for more than a thousand years. Taos Pueblo, just north of the Spanish town of Taos, was build sometime around 900-1000 AD and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the US. Designated a World Heritage site, visitors are not allowed to take photography of any kind, you’ll have to take my word that it is well worth a visit. The Spanish first established a village in the area in 1615. Conflict with the natives, lack of gold in the area, a distant and otherwise relatively inhospitable location all lead to a lack of settlement until Spanish land grants were finally given out in the area. What we now know as the town of Taos was founded in 19796-1797.
Taos Plaza.
Like most Spanish settlements the town was built around a central plaza. Due to the history of conflicts with the natives, the center of Taos was constructed of rectangle of adobe buildings that had as a defensive strategy no openings on the exterior walls. The plaza is relatively small and today the surrounding buildings house restaraunts, shops, etc. Over time several “alley ways” were constructed that extend out from the plaza, housing more of the same.
La Hacienda de Los Martinez
La Hacienda de Los Martinez is an outstanding reconstruction/restoration of one of the original land holdings of the valley. In 1803 Antonio Martin purchased land along the Rio Pueblo, the “river” that waters the area. During the next twenty years his establishment became an important commercial hub for the area, serving as a trading point between Mexico and the United States. The Martinez family also be came key to the settlement of the entire upper Rio Grande Valley with both of Antonio’s sons being key contributors to the religious and political development of northern New Mexico. Descendants of the original family lived in the home until the 1930’s. After 30 years of neglect, the Milord family purchased the land and began the restoration. Ten years later the museum acquired the property and completed the restoration. Using the very detailed will that Antonio Martin left (it even detailed how many iron nails he had in his possession), the hacienda has been restored as close to it’s 1820 appearance as possible.
Located about a mile southwest of the plaze, visitors first cross the “river” and head up a slight slope to the hacienda.
The hacienda developed into its’ current configuration of a “squared off” figure eight by 1827. Given that this was one of the first buildings in the area, defensive needs required that there be no openings on the exterior walls except one gate in the corner of each of two interior plazas. The small door in the front wall is not original, it is now the entrance to the museum. Otherwise the only openings were the gate into the first plaza on the front right and the gate to the back plaza seen on the back side wall in the picture.
Many of the rooms had no windows or very small windows opening into the plaza. There was no glass available at the time, so whatever openings existed were open to the weather. The walls are made out of mud bricks covered with adobe. Much of the walls are orginal and one area has been not been restored so you can see the original bricks from 1804.
The front plaza was surrounded by the rooms used by the family for daily living, the back plaza was surrounded by work rooms and rooms for the servants. Today the front plaza is a green lawn, connected by the original arched hall to the back plaza. The large opening right of the corner in the front plaza is the front gate, the small door to the left of the corner is the entrance to the sala. Note how small the door openings are – I had to remember to duck to enter (only forgot once, ouch!).
In a corner of the front plaza the sala was the primary living area for the family, though it was far from the largest room in the complex. The larger rooms were reserved for the kitchen and other work areas. Most of the living was down outside in the plaza thus the rooms were sparsely furnished.
Located in the wing dividing the two plazas is the kitchen area. The entire western wall is taken up by a “shepherd’s fireplace”. The main fire would be in the fireplace on the right but then hot coals would be shoveled on the the platform that stretches to the left along the wall so that the entire wall could be used for cooking. Meals included family, servants and travelers so a lot of cooking space was needed. Meals were eaten outdoors so there was no need for a large table.
One of the largest rooms in the complex was the weaving room, where wool from the hacienda’s sheep was woven into textiles that were then traded across the southwest. The museum today has a collection of looms so there are probably more in the room than would have been actually used at the time.
There are 21 rooms in the complex enclosing the two plazas, not all are accessible to the public but the really excellent restoration certainly gives the flavor of what it might have been like to live in the area in the 1820’s.
Earthship
Taos in the 1970’s became synomous with the “New Age” movement. Young people moved to the area in search of a better world, to commune with nature, and explored mysticism on the high desert (emphasis sometimes on the “high” part!) When I first visited the area in the late 70’s there was a lot of flower power going on… Time has matured the New Age culture but it is still very much present. One of the more significant manifestations of the movement is Earthship.
In the 1970’s Michael Reynolds founded Earthship Biotecture, a movement dedicated to self-sustaining life structures made as much as possible from recycled materials and totally self-sustaining or “off the grid”. The process and design have developed over the last 40 odd years and continues to evolve. Kits are now available to help people build Earthships all over the world and development of the “Biotecture” continues on the main site just outside of Taos at the Earthship Greater World Community. Special legislation passed by the New Mexico government allows the Earthship process to experiment by building without the constraints of local building codes. All structures are self-sustaining, built of natural or recycled materials; using solar/thermal power for all heating/cooling/electricity; all water provided by rainfall; sewage is self-treated on site using septic tanks, and provide for the production of food.
The Earthship Visitor Center is essentially a model home rising from the desert west of Taos.
You can see from the picture above that the house is built into the ground with the south facing side consisting of greenhouse walls and solar panels. The walls are angled in such a way as to use maximum use of the sun, reducing direct exposure in the summer and increasing exposure in the winter. Looking down the greenhouse hallway from the inside the walls are crowded with plants grown for food.
Rain provides the only water for the house. Large tanks gather the rain off the roof and then it is used four times: first (filtered naturally) for drinking/washing, etc., then to water the plants, thirdly for use in the toilets, and lastly, after going through the septic system, to water exterior plants.
The large living area houses the displays and visitor entrance to the center.
The walls are made of used tires packed with dirt. The picture on the left shows the side and back of the visitor center and the pathway up to the roof from which you can see all around the development site. The picture on the right shows a house in the process of being built (note other completed Earthships in the background.)
Projects in development include the building of a structure that has the tires on the north walls but uses glass bottles set in cement for the south walls in order to increase the thermal properties as well as providing more light to the interior. A large multi-family dwelling is in the process of being constructed using both techniques. The close-up shows the detail of a bottle wall.
Leaving Taos we now head north along the foothills of the Sangre de Christos, skirting the flat plateau to the west.
Next Up: The Heart of Colorado