Monday April 15, 2019

Road video and map – Las Vegas to Taos, NM

Today’s drive, from Las Vegas to Taos, NM, had some great scenery as the road climbed to over 9,000 feet but the highlights were the historical and cultural stops I made along the way.

The first was at Fort Union National Monument which preserves the ruins of the largest fort in the southwest during the period of westward expansion along the Santa Fe Trail. The first fort here was built in 1851 to ensure US control of the New Mexico territory which had recently been won from Mexico.

A second fort was built about a mile away from the first in 1861, in a more defensible location, to engage and defeat the Confederate Army in the southwest and was occupied for less than two years. I had never realized that the civil war was fought this far west.

The ruins preserved today are from the third fort which operated from 1862 to 1891 and became the largest military establishment west of the Mississippee at the time. It was the central command location that supported over 40 other forts in the southwest with deployments , arms and all other supplies. It also had the best hospital between Missouri and San Francisco.

My second stop was at Taos Pueblo which sits on a plateau overlooking the modern town and has been continuously occupied by the Tiwa Puebloan tribe for over 1,000  years.  The influences of Native American, Spanish Catholic and Western culture over that period were emphasized by our guide as she described the construction, maintenance and life of the pueblo.

Since there is no electricity, running water or sewage system in the pueblo only a few dozen people actually live there but it is the cultural and ceremonial life of the 1,600 tribe members who live on the reservation that surrounds it.

My final stop was a quick one at San Francisco des Asis which is considered to be one of the finest examples of an adobe church and was completed in 1816.

The legal status of Fort Union National Monument does not allow for any reconstruction, only preservation, so many of the adobe walls are supported.
Although only ruins remain it is easy to visualize the large scale of the fort. This is one corner of the quartermaster’s section.
The jailhouse was constructed much more substantially than the other buildings and is completely intact.
The adobe structures at Taos Pueblo are maintained by applying new mud at regular intervals and this structure is almost 1,000 years old.
The setting is beautiful. This view is across the main ceremonial plaza.
The “new” San Geronimo church in the pueblo dates from 1850.
The cemetery and ruins of the old church (built in 1619) which was destroyed by the US Army in 1847.
San Francisco des Asis is a fine example of a mission church built by the Spanish. Neither church allowed interior photography.