Santa Fe Historic Sites

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An image of the book: America's Historic Places

National Geographic Guide to America's Historic Places

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Terminus of El Camino Real from Mexico City, the Villa de Santa Fe was declared the capital of Spain’s New Mexico province around 1600. The 700-mile [1,126.5-kilometer] Santa Fe Trail from Missouri arrived in 1821, the year Mexico became independent of Spain. The trade routes made Santa Fe the hub of Southwest commerce and the Santa Fe Plaza the junction of the Hispanic Southwest and Anglo-American East. Here on August 18, 1846, during the Mexican War, Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny ran up the U.S. flag and annexed the territory (a bloodless feat engineered by James W. Macgoffin, a Santa Fe trader who negotiated behind the scenes with friends in the Mexican government). (Convention & Visitors Bureau, 201 W. Marcy St. +1 505 984 6760 or 800 777 2489) CONTINUED

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Palace of the Governors (105 Palace Ave. +1 505 827 6483. Tues.-Sun.; Adm. fee to museum) Built to house the provincial governor and his lieutenants, the adobe complex on the north side of the plaza served as the capital of this part of New Spain for two centuries. It is thus the oldest capitol building in the U.S. An excellent museum displays period rooms and diverse artifacts that reflect Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American heritage. Indian artisans selling beneath the palace’s arcade continue the plaza’s centuries-old trading tradition.
Loretto Chapel (1 block E of the plaza, 211 Old Santa Fe Trail. +1 505 982 0092. Adm. fee) A French architect who was commissioned by Santa Fe’s French-born archbishop, Jean-Baptiste Lamy, modeled the church after Paris’s Sainte-Chapelle. He commenced work in 1873 but died before he could complete stairs to the choir loft. According to legend, Loretto’s Catholic sisters prayed, and an aged, unknown carpenter arrived on a donkey. He built the Miraculous Staircase, which spirals upward without a center pole for support, and rode away, taking no payment.
St. Francis Cathedral (131 Cathedral Place. +1 505 982 5619. Donations) Begun in 1869, this French Romanesque edifice reflects the taste of Jean-Baptiste Lamy, model for the priest in Willa Cather’s novel Death Comes for the Archbishop. Lamy is buried under the altar, watched over by one of the oldest representations of the Madonna in North America.
Santuario Nuestra Seöora de Guadalupe (100 S. Guadalupe St. +1 505 988 2027. May-Oct. Mon.-Sat., Nov.-April Mon.-Fri.; Donations) The sanctuary (no longer an active church) was completed around 1795, but owes its California mission style to 20th-century repairs. The interior is classic Spanish colonial, with original woodwork. A museum exhibits paintings dating from the 16th century and photographs illustrating the church’ ;s survival of fire, revolution, and misguided remodeling.

San Miguel Mission (401 Old Santa Fe Trail. +1 505 983 3974. Donations) This church was built on the site of Indian dwellings dating from the 1300s. Its interior, decorated by 16th-century animal-hide paintings, is an excellent example of New Mexican colonial religious architecture. A circa 1628 document scolding the governor for “impious conduct during the mass” establishes San Miguel as the continent’s oldest church structure.
Barrio de Analco One of the oldest residential areas in the U.S. begins on East De Vargas Street, where many houses date from the early 1600s.
Canyon Road Possibly once an Indian trail to Pecos River pueblos, the narrow road is now a chic avenue of galleries, upscale shops, and innovative restaurants, many occupying historic buildings.
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (710 Camino Lejo. +1 505 827 6344. Tues.-Sun.; Adm. fee) Art and artifacts from southwestern Indian life celebrate the traditions and contemporary vigor of the culture. The permanent “Pottery of the Southwest” exhibit distinguishes varying tribal traditions.