Page 540 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

538  THE SOUTHWEST

New Mexico . Taos

* 5,700. @ Taos Bus Center, Hwy 68.
New Mexico’s rich cultural heritage and unique mix of Native n 1139 Paseo del Pueblo Sur (575)
American, Hispanic, and Anglo American people make it a 751-8800, (800) 348-0696.
fascinating place to visit. The forested peaks of the Rocky ∑ taoschamber.com
Mountains offer ski resorts in winter and cool retreats in summer. The town of Taos, home to
Northern New Mexico, with its soft colors and vivid desert Pueblo peoples for around
landscapes, has attracted generations of artists to the creative 1,000 years, is now a vibrant
centers of Santa Fe and Taos. In the vast, wild south visitors can artistic center. In 1898, artists
explore ancient ruins at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Ernest Blumenschein and Bert
and the fascinating cave systems of Carlsbad Caverns. Phillips stopped here to repair
a wagon wheel and never left.
In 1915 they established the
Taos Society of Artists, which
continues to promote the work
of local artists. Some of these
are exhibited at the Harwood
Museum of Art, located in a
tranquil, 19th-century adobe
compound. More works by the
society’s artists are housed in
the Blumenschein Home and
Museum, nearby.
The tree-lined, old Spanish
Plaza at the heart of Taos
Fajada Butte in Chaco Culture National Historical Park makes for a pleasant stroll. To
its east is the Kit Carson Home
, Chaco Culture of 300 years. Casa Riconada, and Museum. A fur trapper
National Historical which holds the largest religious and soldier, Carson’s remarkable
life (1809–68) is the focus of
chamber at Chaco, measuring
Park 62 ft (19 m) in diameter, lies to this museum.
25 miles (5 km) SE of Nageezi off US the southeast. A few miles north of the town
550. Tel (505) 786-7014. Open 7am– A short trail from Pueblo center, Taos’ main highway,
sunset daily. Closed public hols. & Bonito leads to another great Paseo del Pueblo Norte, leads to
7 8 ∑ nps.gov/chcu house, Chetro Ketl, covering the Millicent Rogers Museum,
3 acres (2 ha). The masonry with its brilliant collection of
One of the Southwest’s most used to build the later portions Native American arts and crafts,
impressive cultural sites, of this structure is among the and black-on-black pottery of
Chaco Canyon reflects the most sophisticated found in Puebloan artist Maria Martinez.
sophistication of the Ancestral any Ancestral Puebloan site. This road leads to the dramatic
Puebloan civilization that A two-hour hike northward Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, the
existed here. With its six “great leads to Pueblo Alto, built on country’s second-highest
houses” (pueblos that top of the mesa at the junction suspension bridge, built in 1965.
contained hundreds of rooms) of many ancient Chacoan roads. It offers awesome views of the
and many lesser sites, the gorge and the surrounding
canyon was once the political, stark, sweeping plateau.
religious, and cultural center for Taos Pueblo is north of the
settlements that spread across town. It features two multistory
much of the Four Corners. communal adobe houses still
Visitors can access the site inhabited by villagers, making it
via a 16-mile (26-km) dirt road one of the oldest communities
that is affected by flash floods in the country.
in wet weather. A paved loop The Hacienda Martinez
road in the site passes several (see p545) at Ranchos de Taos,
of Chaco’s highlights. The major south of the city, is a well-
stop is Pueblo Bonito, the preserved Spanish Colonial
largest of the “great houses,” a house with thick adobe
D-shaped, four-story structure walls and heavy gates. The
with more than 600 rooms, and 18th-century adobe church of
40 kivas, round, pit-like rooms San Francisco de Asis was often
used for religious ceremonies. painted by Georgia O’Keeffe,
Begun around AD 850, it was Finely wrought stonework at one of New Mexico’s best
built in stages over the course Chaco Canyon known artists.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp550–52 and pp553–5

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Date 1st October 2013
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