In the January through March 2006, Vol. 2 No. 1, edition of Chronicles of the Trail, we feature an article by Jean Fulton about the remarkable restoration of the mission church Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción de los Piros de Socorro del Sur at Socorro, Texas, just east of the city of El Paso. A largely volunteer project that energized a whole community, the mission is now a showpiece of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. We report on the highly successful November 19, 2005, opening of El Camino Real International Heritage Center Opening, which is located between the New Mexico communities of Socorro and Truth or Consequences, just east of Interstate 25, near Exit 115. Sarah Schlanger, Bureau of Land Management, and Michael Romero Taylor, National Park Service, give us an insight into their goals and current and future projects in the administration of the trail. (Click on “CARTA News” to see their report.) Pat Beckett shares with us a letter written by one of his ancestors who was a merchant and freighter on the trail in the late 19th century. Jay W. Sharp, editor of the Chronicles of the Trail, gives some of the background of the cultural clash that led to the Puebloan revolt against the Spanish colonists in northern New Mexico in 1680. The CARTA president’s quarterly message will be found in this web site here.
If you would like to learn more about the trail, you can download a .pdf file of a much sought-after document at http://www.blm.gov/heritage/adventures/research/StatePages/NM_pubs.html.