Mosaic of New Mexico's Scenery, Rocks, and History

by Unknown

NEW MEXICO STATE MONUMENTS

by Museum of New Mexico Staff

The State of New Mexico, recognizing the depth and color of its own history, has established a number of state monuments preserving important historical or archeological sites. These are administered by the Museum of New Mexico located in Santa Fe. Any mosaic of New Mexico would be incomplete without including these important landmarks.

El Palacio, Palace of the Governors

The main facility of the Museum of New Mexico is El Palacio. The Palace of the Governors, on the plaza in the heart of Santa Fe, is the oldest public building in the United States. Built in 1610, it was the seat of Spanish government in New Mexico until 1821, of the Mexican government until 1846, and the residence of the governors appointed by the President of the United States until 1910, when it became a unit of the Museum of New Mexico.

It presently contains exhibits relating to New Mexico’s past, ranging from the Indians, who arrived after crossing the Bering Sea, to the Spanish, who came seeking gold and glory on horseback, to the wagon trains from the east, whose goal was the end of the Santa Fe Trail, which is directly in front of El Palacio.

El Palacio was the capitol of New Mexico for 300 years and was the seat of residence for more than one hundred of New Mexico’s governors. During that time it was captured and held by the Indians from 1680 to 1692. The Army of the Confederacy captured it for a few days during the Civil War, and one of its occupants, Territorial Governor Lew. Wallace, wrote his famous novel, Ben Hur, within its walls.

There are other fascinating units connected with the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe. Among these are the Fine Arts Museum, emphasizing the art and artists of the great Southwest; the International Folk Art Museum; and the Hall of Ethnology, devoted primarily to the peoples of the Southwest.

Abo State Monument

Off U.S. Highway 60, nine miles west of Mountainair is Abo State Monument.

The ruins of the ancient mission church of San Gregorio de Abo and its pueblo, built of red sandstone, are in a broad, natural amphitheater rimmed on the north and west by the blue Manzano Mountains, which contrast strikingly with the reddish hues of the Abo sandstone. This is one of the Saline Missions, so called because of the nearby salt deposits in the Estancia Basin.

It was built during the seventeenth century by Indians under the supervision of the Franciscans, led by the venerable Fray Francisco de Acevedo. The inhabitants of Abo were very friendly to the Spaniards. They were forced to abandon their pueblo about 1673 because of drought and the raids of the Apaches and Comanches. They then moved south to El Paso del Norte where they joined in founding Isleta del Sur.

The walls of the pueblo have disintegrated with time into low mounds which lie adjacent to the mission. The ecclesiastical structures have been excavated and repaired for permanent preservation.

Quarai State Monument

This monument is near Punta de Agua, eight miles north of Mountainair off State Highway 10.

The ruins of the mission church of the Immaculate Conception at Quarai are unsurpassed in grandeur of architecture or setting by any that survive from the labors of the early Franciscans in New Mexico. Built of red sandstone masonry about 1628, at the Pueblo of Quarai, it was abandoned along with the pueblo about 1674, chiefly because of Apache depredations.

One of the most venerated of the Franciscan missionaries, Fray Geronimo de la Llana, worked and died at Quarai, beloved by his Indian charges. His remains now rest in a crypt in the wall of St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe. The ruins have been excavated and repaired for permanent preservation.

Coronado State Monument

This pueblo ruin is on the west bank of the Rio Grande, one mile from the town of Bernalillo, seventeen miles north of Albuquerque, and one mile off U.S. Highway 85, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

The Pueblo of Kuaua was one of the several towns of the ancient Tiguex province. At or near Kuaua, the Coronado expedition maintained headquarters from about 1540 to 1542 A.D. During excavation of the ancient pueblo, more than 1200 ground-floor rooms were found and five kivas, or underground ceremonial chambers, were uncovered.

In one of the kivas was found a highly important group of ancient wall paintings. This kiva has been reconstructed and the paintings restored.

The old walls of Kuaua have been rebuilt to a few feet in height so that the structure can be seen. A museum has been erected on the site to exhibit the material found during the excavation and to portray life in the Tiguex province. The Coronado State Monument and Museum commemorates the meeting, more than four hundred years ago, of the elements that influenced the culture of New Mexico—the Indian and the conquistadore.

A curator-custodian is on duty at the Coronado Museum headquarters, which is open all year.

Pecos State Monument

Off U.S. Highway 84-85, three miles south of Pecos, is this State Monument. It became a National Monument during late 1966.

This mission, the Church of Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de Porciuncula at Pecos, dates from the year 1617. It is fitting that this mission, which was one of the first two, with Jemez, established by the Franciscans in New Mexico, should bear the name “Our Lady of the Angels of Porciuncula,” for with his own hands, St. Francis, founder of the Order, rebuilt the decaying chapel of Our Lady of Angels at Assisi, which he called his Porciuncula or “Little Inheritance,” and there established the headquarters of the Franciscan Order.

Pecos was well fortified because of its location on the eastern edge of the pueblo area and its contact with the Plains Indians. It resisted the raids for many years, but when a smallpox epidemic in 1838 reduced the population to seventeen survivors, they moved to Jemez Pueblo, abandoning Pecos.

A part of the massive adobe walls of the ruined mission has been excavated and repaired, as have some of the rubble masonry walls.

Jemez State Monument

This Monument is at Jemez Springs, sixty miles north of Albuquerque on State Highway 4.

One of the finest early mission churches was established at Giusewa Pueblo. Giusewa means “place of the boiling waters” in the language of the Jemez Indians, and refers to the famous Jemez Hot Springs nearby. The mission, with Pecos, was one of the two earliest in New Mexico. These were founded one hundred and fifty-two years before the first California missions.

The original settlement of the Giusewa Pueblo goes back hundreds of years before Columbus’ discovery of America, as does the settlement of the other pueblos, Quarai, Abo, and Pecos.

Guisewa Pueblo became extinct during the last quarter of the seventeenth century, a result of the consolidation of several pueblos of the Jemez province into fewer and larger towns. Only one town, the present Jemez Pueblo, survives from that time. Excavation and repairs have been made in the ruins of both the pueblo and the mission church.

La Mesilla State Monument

This colorful State Monument consists of the plaza in the village of Mesilla, near Las Cruces, and the buildings nearby. The Monument preserves an aspect of the Mexican Colonial culture and architecture which flourished here in the early nineteenth century. The Gadsden Purchase of 1853 was celebrated in the Mesilla Plaza and the famous desperado, Billy the Kid, once stood trial here for his life. During the Civil War, Mesilla was briefly the Confederate capitol of the Territory of Arizona.

Lincoln State Monument

Located in Lincoln, on U.S. Highway 380, and known as the Old Lincoln County Courthouse, the first floor of this Monument was the mercantile store of L. G. Murphy & Co. in the 1870’s, during the Lincoln County War. The second floor was purchased in 1870 by the county for a court house.

It was from this building that Billy the Kid made his daring escape on April 28, 1881, after killing his two guards. A caretaker and a museum attendant are on duty at all times. Mementos of the infamous Lincoln County cattle war are featured.

Fort Selden State Monument

The crumbling adobe walls of Fort Selden lie about seventeen miles north of Las Cruces just west of Interstate Highway 25. The history of this fort, given in the article on Frontier Forts, was highlighted by the brief stay of General Douglas MacArthur, who spent some of his childhood within the fort’s walls and played in the adjoining green valley of the Rio Grande.