Visiting Taos Pueblo

Wednesday May 21, 2025                           Most Recent Posts:
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Taos, New Mexico                                         The Rest of My Day at Ghost Ranch

TAOS PUEBLO

Taos Pueblo is 6.2 miles from the campground.  A very easy drive straight up Paseo Del Pueblo Sur.  It opens at 10am.  I  arrived about 10:30am and left around 1pm.  $25 entrance fee is required, $22 for Seniors.  This includes a tour by a member of the Pueblo for which tips are customary.  Because it is considered rude to take pictures of the pueblo people, I do not have one of our guide who was very good.

Our tour started at the San Geronimo Church which you can see as the star on the map Below.  Other significant structures are also marked.

I was early enough to get a spot in the parking lot you can see on the map at the edge of the Pueblo near the Tour Guide Station #2 and walked from there down the road to the left of the church.

On my way down the road above to the church these buildings were on my left and the church on my right.  I later learned from the guide that only some of these adobe homes are year round residences.  Others are used by families as shops to sell to tourists as the one below  and homes during ceremonial occasions while they actually live outside the Pueblo but on the reservation.

The shadow on the right is the church building.

On the far left is the doorway into the patio fronting the church.

The street I walked in on is on the right.  As you can see there were few people here when I arrived.  The tour group met inside the church patio.  The tour is part of the admission charge so you can come whenever you like and take it as often as you like.  I wish I had taken it twice just to see how the tours differed.  They run about every 30 or 45 minutes.  Unfortunately I ran out of energy before I could.

I was very sorry so many things were posted on and in front of the beautiful doors.  I wish they had had a stand up board to the left of the doors with all those notices on it so the doors could be fully appreciated.

Anyone is welcome to attend mass here on Sundays at 7am in English and at 9 am.  That mass is bilingual English and Spanish.  I was sorry to hear it was not in Tiwa, the native language.  Mass is also  on Monday at 10am and Wednesday – Friday at 12:30.

No pictures were allowed inside the church where our guide talked about the history of the Pueblo and the church.

From here we moved to the ruins of the original St. Jerome Church constructed in 1629, abandoned in 1680 during the Pueblo Revolt and lastly destroyed by the US Cavalry in 1847 in the war with Mexico..  The present San Geronimo, or St Jerome, Chapel was completed in 1850 to replace the original destroyed church.

 

The ruins of the original church are not accessible to visitors.

We were told he Pueblo Indians are about 90% Catholic.  Catholicism is practiced along with the ancient Indian religious rites.  The Pueblo religion is very complex but there is no conflict with the Catholic church as evidenced by the prominent presence of both church and kiva in the village.

While there is a newer graveyard, some residents prefer to be interred with their ancestors as you can see by the dates on the markers.

Some of the graves are well maintained and others are not.  I assume that the dry heat enables the wooden crosses to have long lives.

Two of the newer graves were right next to the adobe brick wall.

1973-1999

1925-2011

From there we went through some back narrow walkways to the main plaza.  The covered mounds are beehive shaped kiln ovens.

Our group was comfortably small but I was constantly aware not to take any pictures of any people.

Maintenance on the outside of the adobe homes must be done yearly by the owners to avoid disintegration.  Some are not and have deteriorated or fallen in.  I am surprised at this.

I saw several of these little corner ovens and wondered what they would be keeping warm on the inside of the building.

We arrived at the large plaza in the middle of the Pueblo.  It is huge and can clearly accommodate festivals and dances some of which are open to the public.  Dates and times are on their website calendar.

Our guide tells us, the Taos Pueblo people are known in their Indigenous language Tiwa as the Red Willow People.  Their history is that they have lived on and with this land for over 1000 years.  The Pueblo is known for its multi-story adobe buildings and is the only living Native American community designated both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a National Historic Landmark.   Its main buildings were constructed between 1000 and 1450 CE.  My mind could hardly wrap around 570 to 1025 years ago.

She says they appeared much as they do today when the first Spanish Explorers arrived in 1540.  The 5 story North House (Hlauuma) is seen below.  The similar South House (Hlaukwima) is on the other side of Red Willow Creek.

I am awed by this construction still standing beautifully after So many years.

Our tour concludes on this side of Red Willow Creek but we are encouraged to venture across to the other side.  I see the Hlaukwima  House across the crystal clear water

We are cautioned not to step in, take anything from or throw anything into the creek which is the source of water for those inside the Pueblo.

There is a plain flat bridge at either end of the Pueblo for crossing over.

Standing on the lower bridge I take this picture of the creek with the adobe buildings on the left and the mountains in the background.

As you can see the creek is very shallow.

There are several buildings open with shops inside.  I do not go in.  I do not want to buy anything and it makes me uncomfortable, to feel like spectator.  I have felt a bit uncomfortable all day wandering around these people’s homes staring and taking pictures.

This was my favorite of the shops and I might have gone in had it not been for the fact that there were already 4 people inside and it didn’t look room for one more.

I just love this building.

I am assuming the owner is a potter.   Those are drying chili peppers hanging to the left.

I think how wonderful it would be to take the ladder up on the roof as Georgia O’Keeffe did and lay looking up at the stars.

I wander down some of the back ways as we did on the North side.

In several places these stairs made it possible to climb over the Pueblo walls.  The road beyond was off limits or I certainly would have gone up and over.  Just for the fun of it.

The Pueblo is made entirely of adobe – earth mixed with water and straw, then either poured into forms or made into sun-dried bricks.  The walls are frequently several feet thick.  The roofs of each of the five stories of both the North House and South House seen below, are supported by large timbers-vigas haulded down from the mountain forests.  Similar pieces of wood – pine or aspen – are placed side-by-side on top of the vigas; the whole roof is covered with packed dirt.  The outside surfaces of the Pueblo are continuously maintained by replastering with thick layers of mud.  Interior walls are carefully coated with thin washes of white earth to keep them clean.  The Pueblo is actually many individual homes built side-by-side and in layers with common walls but no connecting doorways.  In earlier days there were no doors or windows and entry was gained only from the top.

This is Hlaukwima, South House.

Mostly the doors are painted blue or red.   I read that Blue Doors invite good spirits inside and Red Doors keep bad spirits out.

Some of the wonderfully carved doors are not painted.

There are clear signs designating restricted areas

Approximately 150 people live within the Pueblo full time.  Other families owning homes in the North or South buildings live in summer homes near their fields and in more modern homes outside the old walls but still within the Pueblo land.  There are over 1900 Taos Indians living on Taos Pueblo lands.   The land base is 99,000 acres with an elevation of 7200 feet at the village and higher in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

I loved these ingenious sun shades.  Practical and lovely.

The single most dramatic event in the recent history of Taos Pueblo land is the 1970 return of 48,000 acres of mountain land including the sacred Blue Lake.  It was taken by the US Government in 1906 to become part of the National Forest lands.  Among the ritual sites where Taos people go for ceremonial reasons, Blue Lake is perhaps the most important. Iits return is a tribute to the tenacity of Pueblo leaders and to the community’s commitment to guarding its lands for the spiritual, cultural and economic health of the Pueblo.  The return of this land capped a long history of struggle.  Blue Lake and the mountains are off-limits to all but members of the Pueblo.

From here I took the bridge back over to the North Side of the creek.

As I prepared to leave, I took a video standing in the center of the Pueblo and filming around to the left.  The entrance to the Pueblo is just to the right of the church.  You can see people walking in.  The first multi story Pueblo building is the South House (Hlaukwima) across Red Willow Creek.  As I turn, the North House (Hlauuma) will come into view much closer to where I am standing.  The Sangre de Christo Mountains are in the background.  You can view it here. 

One last picture of the lovely church and one of the two bells you can see in the towers.  I assume they ring on Sundays.  I would love to hear them.   Next time…..

No electricity or running water is allowed within the Pueblo walls.  Water comes from Red Willow Creek. 

Taos Pueblo is the northermost of the 19 New Mexico Pueblos.  It is a sovereign nation, a self governing entity.  A tribal governor and war chief, along with staffs for each, are appointed yearly by the Tribal Council, a group of some 50 male tribal elders.  The governor and his staff are concerned with civil and business issue within the village and relations with the non-Indian world.  The war chief and staff deal with the protection of the mountains and Indian lands outside the Pueblo walls.

Theses Pueblo people have a great deal to be proud of in their perseverance in rebuilding their churches, in securing the return of their lands and Blue Lake and in the maintenance of their language and home over so many years.

By the time I left I was quite ready for lunch I had not brought.

I had read that just outside the Pueblo was a restaurant called Kiwa Kitchen with pueblo food.  They have a lovely building but only do drive through.  I guess since the pandemic.  I ordered a blue corn buffalo meat indian taco and a medium chokecherry lemonade $17 total. 

I waited over 30 min trying to be patient when the nice girl at the window waved me to come up and said she didn’t realize her mother had not brought my food out to me.  It had been sitting under the warmer.  SO it was now barely warm and dried out.   The taco was in a take out box and when she handed me the box and a bag, I assumed it was the lemonade.  Should have checked but I was anxious to eat.  When I got home so I could warm the taco, there was no lemonade but rather a 1/2 cup of green chili sauce.  The blue corn fry bread was blah.  I could find no buffalo meat and there was of course no lemonade.  The review had said that their Kiwa taco, which is what I bought, was the best he ever had.  Must have been a relative.  It was terrible.  Is this a case of fool the gringo?   I didn’t bother with a food picture.

Not a great close to an interesting morning now afternoon.