The Trujillo Homesteads are a historic ranch site near Mosca,

Alamosa County, Colorado Alamosa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 16,376. The county seat is Alamosa, Colorado, Alamosa. The county name is the Spanish language word for a "Gr ...

, not far from the

Great Sand Dunes National Park Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is an American national park that conserves an area of large sand dunes up to tall on the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley, and an adjacent national preserve in the Sangre de Cristo Range, in sou ...

. The area was first settled in the 1860s by Teofilo Trujillo, a Mexican sheep farmer. His son Pedro built a log cabin house beginning in 1879, along with other ranch outbuildings and structures. In 1902 the elder Trujillo's home was destroyed by fire during conflicts between English-speaking cattle ranchers and the Spanish Trujillos, who were by then major landowners in the area. The Trujillos sold their holdings, which became part the Medeno Zapata Ranch, now owned by

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

. The homestead area, including the surviving homestead and the ruins of the destroyed one, was declared a

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

in February 2012. The homestead site covers about in a remote rural setting northeast of Mosca. The site includes the archaeological site where Pedro Trujillo built his log cabin, the surviving ranch house (built 1879-1885), and a corral area dating to the Trujillo's ownership period. The ranch house is a two-story rectangular log structure, covered by a modern metal roof. The walls consist mainly of unhewn logs, joined at the corners with V notches. Daubing fills the gaps between the logs. The main facade faces east, and is three bays wide, with sash windows in the outer bays, and a simple wooden doorway at the center. A shed-roof leanto ell extends to the rear of the main block. The house is particularly unusual, in that Spanish settlers to the region more often built with

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

rather than wood.

References

{{reflist Houses completed in 1879 Buildings and structures in Alamosa County, Colorado Ranches on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado National Historic Landmarks in Colorado National Historic Landmark Districts Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area Nature Conservancy preserves Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Colorado State Register of Historic Properties National Register of Historic Places in Alamosa County, Colorado

See also

References