Additionally, we are working with the Bureau of Land Management to fund an auto tour guide for the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The tour will take visitors on paved roads that closely parallel or overlay the original trail. The routes are for tourists who are interested in seeing local segments of the trail.
The State of New Mexico has set up a Sitewatch Advisory Council to monitor archaeological and historical sites within the state. John Bloom, Vice-president, CARTA, is our contact person for the project. The state is looking for volunteers to help monitor sites, following an orientation and state guidelines. If you are interested in working on the Sitewatch program, please contact:
Phillip A. Young, Archaeologist, Historic Preservation Division
407 Galisteo St., Suite 236
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
Phone 1-505-827-6314
Activities of the President During the Last Quarter
On April 17, 2006, CARTA sent an e-mail letter (signed by me, with the approval of the entire board) to the Doña Ana County Commission on the disposition of the old Amador Hotel (County Manager’s Complex). The County was considering selling the old building, which is on the State Register of Historic Properties. The hotel is one of the few remaining Camino Real landmarks in Doña Ana County. Martin Amador, for whom the hotel was named, was one of the leading figures in commerce on the Camino Real from Ciudad Chihuahua to Santa Fe and then on to St. Louis and later to Kansas City, Missouri. We urged Doña Ana County to ensure that the ownership of the building is transferred to another public entity (city or state) that could use the facility as a museum or for a like purpose. As of this issue, the City of Las Cruces has agreed to accept the building and the County Commission has agreed in principle to transfer ownership to the city. A new 501 C-3 has been formed to raise money for the preservation and the probable use as a museum. It is anticipated that a number of historic artifacts associated with the hotel will be donated to the museum.
In the last issue, I indicated that there was general agreement that the Chronicles of the Trail should become a bilingual publication by January 2007. This implementation, however, has been delayed while the CARTA board reviews costs for the publication. Our estimated cost increases, primarily for translation from English to Spanish, appear to be prohibitive at this time.
On September 9, 2006, we had our annual meeting at the Museum of Art and History in Albuquerque. The votes were tallied for nominations to the board. Continuing in office are board members Susan Barger, Mary Davis and Cameron Saffell. Our new board member is State Senator Mary Jane Garcia, Senate whip. Welcome aboard, Mary Jane. The outgoing board member is Edward Staski, who is going to be on a university sabbatical this coming year. Ed, we appreciate your service.
During our annual meeting, Jere Krakow, National Park Service Trail System, spoke on the importance of groups like CARTA and their contributions to the success of the various trail systems. Sara Schangler, Bureau of Land Management, and Michael Romero Taylor, National Park Service, co-administers of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, spoke on their current roles and projects along the trail.
We have had an increase in membership this past year. We urge you to renew your memberships for coming year as soon as possible and to encourage others to join CARTA.
Patrick H. Beckett, CARTA President
COAS: My Bookstore
317 North Main
Las Cruces, NM 88001
Phone: 1-505-644-0868
e-mail: pat@coasbooks.com
It is located on the west side of the Mesilla plaza, which, a century and a half ago, was a major stop for those traveling from Ciudad Chihuahua to northern New Mexico on El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro and from San Antonio, Texas, to San Diego on the desert trail to California. The community has been largely preserved over the years, allowing visitors to experience something of what an 1800s border town looked like. Originally a part of Mexico, Mesilla became part of the United States with the signing of the Gadsden Purchase in 1854.
History of the Property
Known historically as the Barela-Reynolds Properties, the Taylor donation is the newest addition to the New Mexico State Monument system. The properties were constructed in the late 1850s, listed on the State Register of Historic Places in 1970, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 1958, the Mesilla Plaza itself was designated a State Monument and today remains on the system’s list.
Some portions of the Taylor-Barela-Reynolds properties existed as early as the 1860s, when Rafaela Barela lived there with her son, Sheriff Mariano Barela. Rafaela had a store at the location of the northernmost of the two current stores that stand between the home and the plaza. Apparently, the property at that time was relatively plain, typical of the utilitarian adobe buildings of the period. William Charles Reynolds later owned the property, upgrading it in 1903 with architectural elements popular at the time. He also constructed the store with the stamped metal façade (see the front cover).
In 1913, Father Juan Grange, pastor of Mesilla’s San Albino Catholic Church, acquired the property, using it as his rectory. His housekeeper, Perla Aladib, inherited the property from Father Grange in 1937. To supplement her income, she divided the property into several rental apartments.
The Taylor’s purchased the property in 1953. Since then it has undergone substantial rehabilitation and conservation work, including the addition of various rooms to accommodate the growing family. In 1982, for instance, under grants from the National Register of Historic Places and the State Historic Preservation Office and a subsequent grant from the State Historic Preservation Office, with matching funds from the Taylor’s, a major conservation project was undertaken on the building. In recent months, State Monuments completed additional maintenance and repair work on the building, including roofing, fire prevention and updated security systems.
In his October 2004 Architectural Assessment Report: J. Paul Taylor Residence, David G. Battle of Southwest Preservation Services wrote: “The donation of this property is an important contribution to the preservation of the history of south-central New Mexico, especially as it pertains to the 19th century border disputes between the United States and Mexico.”
The Taylor collection includes furniture, rugs, pottery and textiles, and an extensive collection of Spanish colonial, Mexican and New Mexican artwork, as well as religious art—bultos (carved images of a saint or holy person), retablos (pictures of a saint or holy person) and 50 nacimientos (nativity scenes). Folk art, old church vestments and Spanish colonial and contemporary retablos as well as ancestral portraits are also included in the collection.
Taylor began collecting art at five years old, when his aunt gave him a Maricopa (an Arizona Indian tribe) pot. His father also bought him a black-on-white pot by famed San Ildefonso Pueblo Artist María Martinez. Now, after decades of furnishing and collecting, the couple has gathered an extensive art collection that will be preserved for the public to view.
Representative Taylor’s family roots go back to colonial times in the state. Born in Chamberino, near El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, in southern New Mexico, his father, William Robert Taylor, was a Texas native whose family owned a dairy in El Paso. His mother, María Margarita Romero, traced her ancestry to Juan Vaca (now spelled Baca), a soldier with Coronado; Cristobál Vaca, a colonist with the Juan de Oñate expedition; and Juan Paz Hurtado and Bernardo Bustamante y Tagle, two territorial governors. Her father was a delegate to Congress in 1877 and is one of the founders of the Republican Party in New Mexico.
Through his mother, J. Paul Taylor is related to many distinguished families in Northern New Mexico. His great-grandfather was José Miguel Romero y Baca, a merchant, rancher and probate judge who, with his sons, founded Romero Merchantile in Las Vegas, New Mexico, in 1878. He was the mayor of Las Vegas and furnished horses and supplies to the Union army during the Civil War. His home was on the same side of the Las Vegas plaza as the hotel. It was from his rooftop that Stephen Watts Kearny is thought to have proclaimed New Mexico to be part of the United States. The mayor was also a founder of the New Mexico Republican Party.
Taylor’s parents lived on a farm in Chamberino for 56 years. They worked for rural electrification and installation of the natural gas line in the Upper Valley and for improved education in Doña Ana County and Gadsden Independent Schools.
The legacy of enhancing the quality of life for all New Mexicans continued throughout J. Paul Taylor’s 20 years in state office. During his first term, Representative Taylor helped establish the Office of Child Development. Later, he joined in sponsoring legislation to create the Children, Youth and Families Department. The legacy continued through the seven children of J. Paul Taylor and his wife Mary Helen Daniels Taylor. All the children developed careers in education, health care, wildlife or historic preservation: Robert Milton is a retired special-education teacher; Mary Dolores, a respirator-therapist technician; Michael Romero, an archaeologist and historic preservationist; Mary Helen Catherine, a retired elementary-school teacher and mid-school and gifted facilitator; John Paul, Jr. (now deceased), a wildlife specialist; Albert Patrick, a program director for Cornerstones and an adobe preservation specialist; and Rosemary Marguerite, a home-schooling mother and voice performance graduate.
J. Paul Taylor’s wife, Mary Helen Daniels Taylor, a native of El Paso, Texas, carved out her own distinguished career. She grew up within a few blocks of the border, which had a profound influence on her future work as a highly respected scholar of border studies. She is the author of A Place As Wild as the West Ever Was: A History of Mesilla, New Mexico, 1848-1872 (State University Museum Press, 2004). In her 40-years of original research in Mexican archives, she discovered new information on the Mesilla Valley and New Mexico. Her work garnered several awards, including the Heritage Preservation Award “In recognition of lifetime achievement in historical research and historic preservation,” from the New Mexico Historical Preservation Division; the Hall of Fame award, Doña Ana County Historical Society; and the Governor’s Award of Honor for Historical Preservation, presented to Mary and J. Paul Taylor. Her original research has also led to an enriched understanding of the history of the Mesilla area.
“This historic home and its collection of important Spanish Colonial, Mexican, and New Mexican folk art are very generous gifts to the people of New Mexico,” said Stuart Ashman, Cabinet Secretary, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. “The home and art collection will also provide visitors with a unique glimpse into the life of an important New Mexico family.”
Although they donated the property as a state monument, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have reserved a life-estate that permits them occupancy of the property for the remainder of their lives.
Day of the Dedication
The day of the dedication arrived with clear skies, following the extraordinary 2006 monsoon rains that flooded some areas in the region. The event was attended by some 400 adults and 110 school children. Taylor family members came from as far as Washington and Texas to participate in the occasion. The line that would tour the home would stretch onto the plaza as visitors patiently gathered to view the remarkable collection lovingly gathered over decades by the Taylors.
When the Taylors purchased the home and two stores in 1953, some people thought they were crazy because the building was so old and dilapidated. The Taylors, however, added rooms to accommodate their family of seven children, and they did substantial rehabilitation and conservation work.
During the dedication ceremony, Jon Hunner, Ph.D., Director of the Public History Program at New Mexico State University spoke of the history of Mesilla and the historic Barela-Reynolds-Taylor properties. “Look around you,” he said. “This plaza has been a witness to history. Most of us just paso por aquiacute; [pass this way], but homes like the Barela-Reynolds-Taylor house testify to the past.”
In concluding his remarks, Hunner shared a portion of an interview conducted last year with J. Paul Taylor, who said, “We would hope that at the time it passes to the museum...that people will enjoy viewing the house. Not with the clutter that you might see, but a house that has been lived in and loved by a number of people, beginning with the Barela family to the Reynolds family to Father Grange to Perla Alidib to the Taylors. We’ve lived here over fifty years. We brought a collection to this house, but we added to it. We lovingly collected – both Mary and myself – and we hope that when people come through the house, through the zaguan [the hallway from the plaza street to the home], into the parlor, make their rounds through the rooms, visit the portal, that they would have some essence of life in Mesilla by families that live here now, as collective pieces which would go into a house of the period, which means from the early 1850’s to the present.”
Given the “ohhs” and “ahhs” and positive comments of the visitors who went through the home, the gift was well received and the experience treasured.
The Taylors and their seven children “could have done a lot of things with this property,” said Stuart Ashman, Secretary, Department of Cultural Affairs, who officiated over the dedication. “I think this is a very thoughtful and generous gift to the people of New Mexico.”
J. Paul Taylor Family Oral History Garners Award
A project to record the history of the J. Paul Taylor family, one of New Mexico’s most prominent, has won a top award from the national Oral History Association.
“The Oral Histories of the Taylor Family and Residence,” documenting the family’s past in their historic home on the Mesilla Plaza in southern New Mexico, is the recipient of the 2006 Elizabeth B. Mason Project Award. The award for projects over $6,000 is being presented by the Oral History Association at its upcoming conference and awards banquet on Saturday, October 28, at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The interviews with J. Paul and Mary Taylor and their six living children were conducted by participants in the Public History Program at New Mexico State University in anticipation of the eventual transfer of the home and the collection to State Monuments.
Interviewers involved with the project wanted to learn about the families in the home, about growing up there and in Mesilla, and about the family itself. To accomplish their task, the interviewers followed Representative Taylor around the house as he talked about the hundreds of objects that they are donating to the state along with their residence. The videotape captures the former legislator talking about the history, provenance and meaning of the objects. These interviews will be useful for future curators as they research the family and the objects in the home for future exhibits. Since all of the interviews are videotaped, they will also be useful for future programming, perhaps used in a documentary about the family and home that could air once the monument opens, or for possible broadcast on KNME/TV.
“This award is not only an honor for New Mexico State University, but appropriately acknowledges the multi-generational contributions of the Taylor family to New Mexico,” said Stuart Ashman, Cabinet Secretary, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. “The well documented history gleaned from the Taylor family interviews supports the purpose and importance of the Barela-Reynolds-Taylor State Monument.”
The Oral History Association is the premier organization in the world for oral historians. Jon Hunner will accept the award in October in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the organization’s annual conference.
“It’s an honor to get the award, but really it’s the Taylor family that should be recognized,” Hunner said. “My part was easy; I just put the microphone in front of them, asked questions and just had a great time talking with them. They are a unique family who have been heritage preservationists for generations and continue to be.”
Also included in the project team was former KRWG-TV videographer Hugo Perez staff member and public history graduate students Veronica Gallardo and Diane Bebin.
Oral history has become an important way of preserving history, Hunner said.
“With oral history, emotions, motivations, joy, sorrow – all of that is right there. You don’t see pieces of paper cry in the archives, but in oral history you might see people cry, or laugh, or come up to new realizations,” he said.
For more information about The Taylor-Barela-Reynolds-Mesilla State Monument please visit nmmonuments.org.
The state Historic Preservation Division, in conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management, Cibola National Forest, Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail Association, and other heritage preservation partners, is establishing a SiteWatch Program for persons interested in protecting archaeological and historic sites in the Socorro, Truth or Consequences, and Las Cruces areas.
Site stewards, who volunteer in chapters set up in various parts of the state, regularly monitor cultural resources for signs of vandalism, erosion and looting, and they report to designated state authorities any changes they discover at sites in their area.
“The SiteWatch program is an attempt to broaden the excellent cultural-resource stewardship program to other public lands in the state,” said SiteWatch Coordinator Phil Young, of HPD.
For years the Farmington BLM and the Santa Fe National Forest have had successful site steward programs on their lands. In addition, HPD operates SiteWatch chapters based in Albuquerque, Taos, Chaco Culture National Historic Park, Santa Fe, Galisteo, Silver City, Las Cruces, Torrance County, Los Alamos and Farmington.
“The Socorro area has a great concentration of lands managed by agencies that have superb heritage resource programs, and we want to take advantage of that excellence and assist where we can, and also help with the protection of features and locations along the El Camino Real,” said Katherine Slick, State Historic Preservation Officer and Director of HPD.
A SiteWatch orientation and training session for prospective site stewards was conducted on September 22 at the Socorro BLM District Office. Participants received a general orientation that included an introduction to SiteWatch, a study of ethics, a cultural history review of central New Mexico, federal and state heritage preservation laws, a field operations overview and law enforcement considerations. A field-operations visit at an archaeological site ended the day.
A second training, centered specifically on El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, will be scheduled for a later date.
Prospective candidates can find the SiteWatch Volunteer Applications and Agreements on the forms link at HPD’s Web site, nmhistoricpreservation.org, or by contacting Young at phillip.young@state.nm.us.
For more information, contact:
Tom Drake, Public Relations
Historic Preservation Division Department of Cultural Affairs
Bataan Memorial Building, Suite 236
407 Galisteo St., Suite 236
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 827-4067
tom.drake@state.nm.us
nmhistoricpreservation.org
Dia de Muertos slideshow lecture and papel picado workshop by Catalina Delgado-Trunk, storytelling by author Nasario Garcia, video presentation, refreshments, and viewing of Dia de Muertos altar installation. For info: 505-854-3600, www.elcaminoreal.org.
Bosque del Apache Festival/El Camino Real International Heritage Center 1st Anniversary Celebration
November 18, 2006, 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
Staff-led tours, lecture/book presentation by Hal Jackson author of Following the Royal Road: A Guide to the Historic Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, flamenco guitar by Bill Thrash, refreshments. For additional information, call 1-505-854-3600 or visit www.elcaminoreal.org.
Hal Jackson, author of Following the Royal Road: A Guide to the Historic Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
November 18, 2006, 2:00 pm
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (Royal Road to the Interior Land) ranks among North America’s oldest (Juan de Oñate extended the Camino to New Mexico in 1598) and longest (1,500 miles) historic roads. Hal Jackson brings to life this important route, which connected Mexico City with northern New Mexico. It was the lifeline for administrative, commercial and ecclesiastical functions in northern Mexico. The northern section of El Camino Real – the portion through New Mexico and Texas – was designated a National Historic Trail by the U. S. Congress in 2000, and an interpretive and visitor center (El Camino Real International Heritage center) has opened south of Socorro, New Mexico, in 2005. Jackson’s guidebook provides the traveler with useful commentary on the entire route. Jackson includes narrative accounts collected from a variety of primary sources to add an eyewitness perspective to topics as diverse as sixteenth-century haciendas, colonial presidios, and important rest stops (parajes) on the camino. There are many historical vignettes plus 60 maps drawn by the author to assist in finding camino sites. Other information provides the traveler details such as highway numbers, mileage, accommodations, and areas of interest off the main camino route. Hal Jackson is professor emeritus of geography at Humboldt State University and is currently part of the adjunct faculty of University of New Mexico’s geography department. He resides in Placitas, New Mexico. For additional information, call 1-505-854-3600 or visit www.elcaminoreal.org.
El Camino Real International Heritage Center Location:
From IH 25, 30 miles south of Socorro, turn east at exit 115. Turn south on frontage road (Highway 1), drive 1.4 miles, turn east onto County Road 1598, follow it for 2.7 miles to the Heritage Center.
For additional information, call 1-505-854-3600 or visit www.caminorealheritage.org.