Taos Plaza is a center of shops and monuments within the

Taos Downtown Historic District Taos Downtown Historic District is a historic district in Taos, New Mexico.Taos Downtown Historic ...

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 C ...

Overview

The Taos Plaza is the historic center of the town of Taos. Once a Spanish fortified walled plaza with houses and businesses, it now has a park with shady trees, park benches, and a gazebo surrounded by retail businesses made of adobe. An anchor of the plaza is the Hotel La Fonda de Taos, which has a small museum of

D.H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

paintings and a restaurant named Joseph's Table with hand-painted floral murals. There is metered parking within the plaza and shopping includes galleries of Native American art and jewelry and souvenir shops. The old courthouse and historic Taos jail are located on the north side of the Plaza. It is the central point for a walking tour of the

Taos Downtown Historic District Taos Downtown Historic District is a historic district in Taos, New Mexico.Taos Downtown Historic ...

, which includes the Ernest L. Blumenschein House, Harwood Museum of Art, Governor Charles Bent House, Taos Inn, John Dunn House, Taos Art Museum, and the Nicolai Fechin House. It is located immediately west of the intersection of US 64 (Kit Carson Road) and NM 68.

History

Located in

. Spanish settlers began colonization of the Taos Valley in 1616,Lyn Bleiler, Society of the Muse of Southwest. ''Images of America: Taos''. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. 2011. but the Plaza dates to the late 18th century when the Don Fernando de Taos Land Grant was ceded to Spanish settlers from the

Taos Pueblo Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos language, Taos-speaking (Tiwa languages, Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan peoples, Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The ...

in 1796 by Don Fernando de Chacon, Governor of New Mexico.Taos History.
Taos Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved July 28, 2014. It and the

were the terminal points of the

Camino Real de Tierra Adentro The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro ( en, Royal Road of the Interior Land), also known as the Silver Route, was a Spanish road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo (''Ohkay Owingeh''), New Mexico, USA, that was used from 1598 to 1882. It was ...

, or King's Highway, from

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of M ...

. Taos Plaza served for decades as the central meeting place in the valley and survived numerous fires that destroyed several older buildings. File:Taos Plaza looking northwest 1906.jpg, Taos Plaza looking northwest 1906 File:TAOS PLAZAca1907.jpg, Taos Plaza, about 1907 Nearby is the

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

Charles Bent Charles Bent (November 11, 1799 – January 19, 1847) was an American businessman and politician who served as the first civilian United States governor of the New Mexico Territory, newly acquired by the Military Governor, Stephen Watts Kearny, ...

, who was appointed Governor of New Mexico when it became an American Territory during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

. He was killed by Indian rebels during the

Taos Revolt The Taos Revolt was a populist insurrection in January 1847 by Hispano and Pueblo allies against the United States' occupation of present-day northern New Mexico during the Mexican–American War. Provisional governor Charles Bent and severa ...

American flag

In 1861, during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

, Southern sympathizers repeatedly tore down an American flag flying over the Plaza. Captain Smith Simpson, with the help of

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 ...

Ceran St. Vrain Ceran St. Vrain, born Ceran de Hault de Lassus de Saint-Vrain (May 5, 1802 – October 28, 1870), was the son of a French aristocrat who immigrated to the Spanish Louisiana in the late 18th century; his mother was from St. Louis, where he was bor ...

, and others, guarded the flag 24 hours a day. The

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

permitted Taos to fly the flag twenty-four hours a day to commemorate the event.

Tourism

Taos Plaza is a tourist destination with many shops displaying

Northern New Mexico Northern New Mexico in cultural terms usually refers to the area of heavy- Spanish settlement in the north-central part of New Mexico. However, New Mexico state government also uses the term to mean the northwest and north central, but to exclude ...

foods and cultural items, including products made in Taos, chile ristras, packaged food items, Southwestern jewelry, pottery, clothing, leather work, and Native American

moccasin A moccasin is a shoe, made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole (made with leather that has not been "worked") and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp (additional panel o ...

s and drums. The Fiestas de Santa Ana y Santiago is hosted during the final week of July, a weekend long celebration of the Hispanic heritage of Taos when the plaza is filled with music, food, and dance. It begins with a Friday night Mass and includes crowning of a fiesta queen. Other events, many of which are free, are held throughout the year in the plaza, including free music in the summer and Yuletide celebrations in December.

Gallery

File:Taos Plaza 10.JPG, Taos Plaza, with shops, galleries and restaurants File:Taos Plaza 9.JPG, Taos Plaza and La Fonda Hotel, with sculpture of Padre Jose Antonio Martinez in the foreground File:Taos Plaza 7.JPG, Taos Plaza, the gazebo was donated by

Mabel Dodge Luhan Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan (pronounced ''LOO-hahn''; née Ganson; February 26, 1879 – August 13, 1962) was a wealthy American patron of the arts, who was particularly associated with the Taos art colony. Early life Mabel Ganson was the heir ...

File:Taos Plaza 13.JPG, Alley off of the north side of the Taos Plaza with additional shops

References

External links

Taos Plaza

Taos Visitor Center

Taos Chamber of Commerce
{{Coord, 36, 24, 26, N, 105, 34, 28, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Taos, New Mexico Plaza, Taos Landmarks in New Mexico Tourist attractions in Taos, New Mexico