The Kit Carson House is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

at 113 Kit Carson Road in central

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Ch ...

. Built in 1825, it was from 1843 until his death the home of frontiersman

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman. He was a fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer. He became a frontier legend in his own lifetime by biographies and ...

(1809-1868). A good example of Spanish Colonial architecture, it is now owned by the local Masonic fraternity, and serves as a museum dedicated to Carson's life. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1963. and

Description and history

The Kit Carson House stands a short way east of Taos's central plaza, on the north side of Kit Carson Road. It is a modest single-story adobe structure, built in 1825, that is an east-facing U shape with a central courtyard. The oldest portion of the house consists of the front three rooms, and the next room to the north. Kit Carson grew up in the frontier west, and became renowned as a fur trapper and guide on numerous

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

expeditions against Native Americans and also during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. In 1843 he married Josefa Jaramillo, who was from a leading Taos family, and purchased this house. It remained the couple's principal home until 1868. They were away from it 1851-54 and 1866–67, when Carson was stationed elsewhere. In early 1868 the family moved to the

Colorado Territory The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the ...

, where both died. The Kit Carson house was passed through a string of owners between Kit Carson’s death in 1868 and the acquisition of the property by Bent Lodge #42 (a masonic lodge founded by Kit Carson) in 1910. The house had degraded and remained in a state of disrepair until 1952 when the Kit Carson Memorial Foundation Inc was established to restore and rehabilitate the property. The foundation now operates the property as a house-museum where visitors can take tours, purchase souvenirs, and learn about Carson’s exploits in life.

Current State of the Kit Carson House

The Kit Carson house is styled and furnished in the Spanish Colonial Style, and most of the house's rooms have been restored to fit within that style, matching their original condition as closely as possible. The restorations go so far as to include authentic recreations of furniture from the time. Additionally, several artifacts surrounding the life of Kit Carson and his family have been incorporated throughout the property, including a replica of his .50 caliber rifle, a United States Army sabre with its scabbard, and Josefa's sewing box. The museum constructed around the house includes a full guided tour which tells visitors about Carson's life, death, and other important details and achievements of his. One of the first stops in the tour includes a 20 minute video on the History Channel that is all about Kit Carson and what he accomplished. It culminates at the nearby Kit Carson Memorial State Park, where the graves of Carson and his wife, Josefa, can be found. The house has also undergone several additions, such as a gift shop and bookstore which supports the mission of the foundation and the museum itself.

Awards & Achievements

* In July of 1963, the National Park Service approved the Kit Carson House for National Historic Landmark Status * In October of 1963, the Kit Carson Memorial Foundation Inc. was awarded an AASLH (American Association for State and Local History) Award of Merit for their efforts to preserve and restore the Kit Carson House

Appearances in Academic Literature

Prairie Schooner is a literary publication put out by the University of Nebraska since 1926. The Kit Carson House appears within Vol. 42 No. 2 (Summer 1968) during an expedition to find D. H. Lawrence's ranch in Taos detailed in an article called The Spinsters of Taos.

References

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