Taos, New Mexico

Spanish colonists began settling at different locations in this valley about 1615. In 1796, the Don Fernando de Taos Land Grant was given to 63 families. This resulted in the establishment of the Taos Plaza and surrounding community. It was soon the most important settlement in the area, outside of the ancient San Geronimo de Taos Pueblo, 3 miles north of the Plaza.

In the late 1700’s, the land grant families built their homes and businesses around the Taos Plaza so that the window-less rear walls provided a good, secure defensible position. There was a water well in the center of the Plaza and when an outside threat arose, livestock was brought into the Plaza for safekeeping. There were also strong wooden gates at both ends of the Plaza.

In peaceful times, the Plaza served for many purposes: church processions, political speeches, music, horse trading, farmers market, small talk and the assembly of militia. It wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that wagons travelling the Santa Fe Trail first arrived at Taos. Before the wagons, trains of pack animals were often seen here, with trade goods being unloaded for customs inspection or with local products being loaded up for trading in faraway places.

As business grew, the Don Fernando and Columbian Hotels were built around the Plaza (the La Fonda now stands where the Columbian was). About 1830, a courthouse and jail occupied a site on the north side of the Plaza. There’s been a few gambling establishments and saloons doing business around the Plaza, too. In the Taos Rebellion of 1847, some of the bloodiest fighting took place in and around the Plaza. When the fighting was over, some of the rebels who survived but got caught were quickly tried and publicly executed on the Plaza.

In 1932, a new Taos County Courthouse had to be built after a raging fire wiped out everything on the north side of the Plaza. That Courthouse has since been replaced but the old building is still here (filled with retail stores) and the murals on the walls are from the WPA days. Most of the painting was done by some of the early artists who helped make Taos a world-known art colony.

The Corazon de Taos has been preserved pretty closely to its original design. The streets are narrow and not straight. The whole area immediately north of the Plaza is now a very busy pedestrian mall. There are historic museums interspersed with art galleries, colonial artifact shops, trinket stores and high-end clothing shops. Some of the old trading company signs are still in evidence: Paris, London, New York, Taos, and in the early days of the Santa Fe Trail, this was very true. What went on in Taos often had direct effect on the fashion markets on the East Coast and in Europe, and vice versa.

You'll notice that nearly everything in Taos is designed and built in some rendition of either Pueblo or Territorial architecture (the Super Walmart conforms to this, too). Even in the huge influx of tourists and big money, this has remained sacred land and the folks have been able to preserve quite a bit of its' original quality. But over the years, I've watched the residential sprawl just get bigger and bigger.

Back in the early 1990's, I got to enjoy a long conversation with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, at a private residence south of Santa Fe. Our conversation ranged far and wide but one of the central points we discussed was why are so many rinpoche being reborn in the New World and why so many Tibetan immigrants are settling in this area. In his words: "The navel of the world is shifting, from Tibet to here." For me, this was one more recognition of the innate sacredness of this area and its' connection with the zeitgeist of Mother Earth and Father Sun.