San Pascual Pueblo was a Piro

pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

south and east of Socorro, in

Socorro County Socorro County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,866. The county seat is Socorro. The county was formed in 1852 as one of the original nine counties of New Mexico Territory. Socorro wa ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, United States. Its ruins lie on the east bank of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

, on a

butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...

, on the western slope of the Little San Pascual Mountain, overlooking the river, near the eastern boundary of the

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge ( ) is located in southern New Mexico. It was founded in 1939 and is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is a favorite spot to watch the migration of the sandhill cranes in th ...

History

The San Pascual pueblo was the largest Piro pueblo in the sixteenth century, with a population estimated to be over 2,000. San Pascual was reported to have been in sight of

Senecú The Piro pueblo of Senecú was the southernmost occupied pueblo in New Mexico prior to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. It was located on the west bank of the Rio Grande within sight of the Piro pueblo of San Pasqual. Colonial Spanish documents consi ...

another Piro pueblo on the west bank of the Rio Grande to the south near Mesa del Contadero.George D. Torok, From the Pass to the Pueblos, Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, Dec 1, 2011. An earlier, smaller, more compact, but well fortified Piro pueblo, known as

San Pascualito San Pascualito (also known as San Pascualito Muerte and El Rey San Pascual) is a folk saint associated with Saint Paschal Baylon and venerated in Guatemala and the Mexican state of Chiapas. He is called "King of the Graveyard." His venerati ...

, dating from the fourteenth century lies nearby north of San Pascual on a small summit at an elevation about 100 feet above the river valley.

References

Native American tribes in New Mexico Piro Pueblos of Socorro County, New Mexico Pueblos in New Mexico {{NewMexico-geo-stub