Way back in 1540, an early Spanish explorer described Taos Pueblo as “a beautiful village with multistoried adobe houses in a most beautiful setting on either side of a fast-running stream.” Despite parking lots and a casino outside the main village, this description is still true today. If you can only visit one pueblo, make it Taos Pueblo. Its unique beauty and location at Taos, a justifiably popular day-trip from Santa Fe in its own right, make it well worth the trip.
Just a few miles north of the Taos plaza, Taos Pueblo, more than most pueblos, is geared toward tourism. Yes, they’ll charge a per-person entrance fee, a parking fee, and yet another fee for cameras. It’s worth the price: Taos Pueblo is one of the most beautiful spots in this beautiful state (they don’t call it the Land of Enchantment for nothing!). If the unusual “high-rise” adobes set against majestic Taos Mountain and the blue New Mexico skies aren’t worth a photo fee, nothing is.
You can spend all day browsing through the many gift shops on the ground floors of the houses and sampling Navajo tacos and other treats. (Taos Pueblo is not wired for electricity, but refrigerators and lights are run by generators.) Or you can spend an hour walking around the pueblo and absorbing its beauty and history. Stroll through narrow alleys and along that “fast-running stream.” Tour the church of San Gerónimo, a beautiful example of Spanish Colonial architecture, though it was built in 1850. The haunting ruins of an older church, destroyed in 1847 during the Taos Uprising, still stands next to the pueblo’s cemetery.
Getting There
From Santa Fe, take St. Francis Drive (Highway 285) north. Stay on this road (it will turn into Highway 68 in Española) and drive for about 1½ hour to Taos (it’s a gorgeous drive). In Taos, get stuck in traffic (optional but probably not) and continue for two miles until you see the sign for Taos Pueblo. Make the right turn and continue onto the pueblo. If you're looking for a more scenic route, you can also take the High Road to Taos and continue on to the pueblo.
You may want to call first (505-758-1028) and make sure they’re open on the day you wish to visit.
History and Legends of Taos Pueblo
Taos is one of the oldest pueblos. Some of its structures are over 1,000 years old! It was first seen by European eyes in 1540, by some of the men with Don Francisco de Coronado’s gold-seeking exploration party.
When the first Spanish settlers arrived in New Mexico in 1598, Taos Pueblo resisted the Spanish conquistadors and Franciscan missionaries. New Mexico’s first governor, Don Juan de Oñate (by all accounts a real piece of work), incurred the wrath of the people when he threw a young warrior off one the pueblo’s high rooftops. The Taos Indians rebelled against the Spanish on several occasions, even killing some of the missionaries and soldiers. After one rebellion in 1640, the people of Taos fled their homes and stayed away for twenty years.
In 1680, the Pueblo Revolt was launched from Taos. Po’Pay, a medicine man from Ohkay Owingeh (then called San Juan Pueblo) organized the different tribes of the territory in the only successful rebellion against Europeans in U.S. history.
When the Spanish returned twelve years later, Taos Pueblo, like its neighbors, had no choice but to accommodate them. The land around Taos soon began to be populated by Spanish settlers. But repeated attacks from nomadic plains tribes—Navajos, Apaches, and later Comanches and Utes—forced the settlers to gather at Taos Pueblo for protection. Not until the early 1800s was it safe enough for the Spanish to return to their own settlements.
But the warriors of Taos were not yet done rebelling. In 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain. Then in 1846, the United States claimed New Mexico for its own. Most of the territory accepted the American army without a struggle. But in Taos, the story was different. The Spanish joined with the Taos Indians (and with settlers from nearby Mora) in an event known as the Taos Uprising. The new American governor, Charles Bent, was killed and scalped at his home in Taos. Retribution from the Americans was swift. Soldiers marched from Albuquerque and Santa Fe, conquering rebels along the way in Embudo and Santa Cruz. The remaining resisters barricaded themselves in the church at Taos Pueblo. So strong were the church’s walls that it took two days for the army to break through. But break through they did, using axes to hack away at the thick adobe walls, shells and cannonfire. They even set the roof on fire. The ruins of this church, its bell tower intact, still stand at Taos Pueblo.
Taos Pueblo was designated a World Heritage Site and a National Historic Site in 1992.
