Taos our smaller neighbor to the north of Santa Fe is 2 hours away. It is a lovely drive up old Taos Hwy with great views crossing the Rio Grande and seeing how some still live in tiny homes as their ancestors did.
Taos is on the Taos Plateau against the western side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Elevation is 6,695 feet.
The town began with the Pueblo that is at least 700 years old today.
According to Taos Indian legend and eagle led their ancestors to the Taos Valley. A Tiwa speaking people, The Taos Indians were living in their pueblo peacefully when the Spanish arrived in 1540 led by Hernando de Alvarado.
Originally the Spanish and Indian got along when the Spanish began settling in the valley in the early 17th century. But as the Spanish began increasing in population and interracial marriages between the Spanish and Indians increased, the Indian became concerned. This strained the relationship between the Spanish and Indians.
In 1617 Fr. Pedro de Miranda built a church on the pueblo for both the Spanish and Indian. The conflict between the two groups grew and in 1631 Miranda and two soldiers were killed. Just after this episode the Indians asked the Spanish to move a distance away from the pueblo. This was where the present-day Taos was begun.
In early 1650 the Indians began planning with other Indian tribes to rebel against the Spanish. But there was not enough Indian support at that time. But 30 years later the Indians from the San Juan Pueblo based in Taos led the revolt that ran the Spanish out of all of New Mexico. The Pueblo Revolt lasted 12 years and in 1692 the Spanish reconquered Taos.
For the next 75 years the Indians and Spanish were forced into a mutually dependent relationship as other Indian tribes such as the Ute, Apaches, and Comanche continued to raid the pueblo and town. In 1760 a brutal attack by the Comanche required help from soldiers in Santa Fe. This battle ended the raids.
By the beginning of the 1800s the town had become an important trade center for the Plains Indians and Pueblo Indians.
Every summer the various tribes would gather in Taos and trade corn, beans, buffalo meat, horses, cattle, beaver pelts, textiles tools, and guns. The trades attracted French trappers and Colonial American mountain men as well.
Kit Carson was one of the Mountain Men who came to Taos in this era. Throughout his life he had many enterprises in trapping, Indian fighting, and joining John Fremont’s expeditions. He married twice in Taos. In his later years he served as an Indian agent in Taos and died in 1868. His house is now the site of the Kit Carson Museum.
Through the 1900s Taos remained relatively peaceful. There was one event where both the Hispanics and Indians rose up and attacked and killed the American governor Charles Bent. The U.S. government quickly stepped in and squelched the opposition.
During this time the town was beginning to attract writers ad artists.
In 1845 Lewis Garrard published the story of his trip to Taos -“The Taos Trail”. Painters E.M and R.N. Kern arrived in Taos with the Fremont expedition and settled down to paint the New Mexico landscapes.
In 1880 American artist Henry Sharp arrive in Taos and sent word to the east Coast about the beauty and opportunities there.
Artist Bert Phillips and Ernest Blumenschein and Irving Couse founded the Taos Society of Artists. With this many in the art establishment on the East Coast traveled to Taos to keep in touch with the art of the Southwest.
In 1917 Mabel Dodge a prominent East Coast patroness brought some other artists friends such as Andrew Dasburg, Georgia O’Keeffe, Ansel Adams and John Marin. Some stayed and lived out their lives n the area and some wrote and painted the area for the entire world to know.
Today Taos is a melting of artists and writers and a second home to others. The others who enjoy the area are the outdoors enthusiasts who take advantage of the wondrous opportunities for water rafting, skiing, hiking and the Magic of Taos.
Eileen Richardson
