12/20/21 - Walking Tour of Santa Fe

Today I walked 5 ½ miles on a self-guided walking tour of Old Town Santa Fe.

12/20/21 - Loretto Chapel

Candles inside the Loretto Chapel.
12/20/21 - Loretto Chapel

Stained glass window inside the Loretto Chapel.
12/20/21 - Loretto Chapel

The Loretto Chapel is most famously known for its unusual helix-shaped spiral staircase and the mystery surrounding the building of it. The staircase has been the subject of legend and rumor since the late 1800s.
12/20/21 - Loretto Chapel

The legend began in 1872. Just before the end of construction on the chapel, the architect suddenly died before a way to get to the upper-level choir loft was build. The architect did not leave any plans for the stairway.
12/20/21 - Loretto Chapel

Many churches have a ladder to climb to the loft but the nuns, in the long habits, didn't feel comfortable with that solution. So, for 9 straight days the nuns held a prayer vigil asking St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters, to provide a solution.
12/20/21 - Loretto Chapel

On the 9th day a dirty stranger appeared at their door. He said he would build a staircase but he would need complete privacy and the chapel would need to be sealed for three months as he worked.

Believing this was the sign they were looking for, the nuns agreed.

The result was the staircase that wound 20 feet and 33 steps up to the choir loft with 2 full revolutions and no center support or use of nails.

About 10 years later the railings were added for safety.
12/20/21 - Loretto Chapel

To this day it remains a mystery, the man remains a mystery. No one knows how he built it all by himself. He used only a small set of primitive tools such as a square, hammer and saw and tubs of hot water to shape the wood.

The entire staircase is made from wood not native to the New Mexican region and is still unknown where it came from.

When the staircase was complete the man disappeared before anyone could pay or thank him. Many believe it was St. Joseph himself who build the staircase.

The staircase was used daily for 90 years but today their use is restricted for preservation and safety.
12/20/21 -Loretto Chapel

Mobile outside the chapel.
12/20/21 -Loretto Chapel

Video of one of the Mobiles outside the chapel.
12/20/21 - Luminaries at the Inn and Spa at Loretto near the Loretto Chapel.
12/20/21 - San Miguel Mission

San Miguel Mission is one of the oldest standing churches still used in the US. Although the exact date of construction is not known, it is widely believed the church building was completed in 1626.

Records show the church was damaged during the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 and parts were rebuild in 1710.
12/20/21 - San Miguel Mission

In 1887 the chapel was in serious need of repair. With no funds available, the Christian Brothers considered demolishing the structure. The local community came to the rescue and built the first of two stone buttresses onto the front of the building to shore up the crumbling adobe walls
12/20/21 - The Oldest House in the US

Across the alley from San Miguel Mission stands the oldest house in the US.

It is said the foundation of the house dates back to 1200AD although there is no real proof. Even so, this old house is a glimpse into what life was hundreds of years ago.
1/20/21 - Oldest House in the US

The De Vargas Street House, often referred to as the Oldest House in the US. The original date of construction is unknown but local legend claimed that the building was part of the Analco pueblo and was already standing when Spanish colonists arrived.

Earlier operators of the Oldest House have continued to claim a construction date as early as 1200. In 1992, the manager of the property admitted, "We have done no archaeological research. It is as much a legend, one of Santa Fe's many legends... I'm perpetuating the legend." However, there may be at least an element of truth to the claim that part of the building is of Pueblo origin.
12/20/21 - The Oldest House in the US

The first floor interior has two Spanish colonial-style rooms with corner fireplaces.
12/20/21 - The Oldest House in the US

The first floor interior has two Spanish colonial-style rooms with corner fireplaces.
12/20/21 - The Oldest House in the US

The first-floor ceiling is original and includes tree-ring specimens, taken from some of the vigas in the ceilings of the lower rooms, show cutting dates of 1740-67.
12/20/21 - The Oldest House in the US

Most of the house is constructed from adobe brick, which was a Spanish colonial technology.
12/20/21 - Santa Fe Playhouse

In 1918, Mary Austin, a well-known social activist, as well as a prolific novelist, poet, critic, playwright, and essayist, was drawn to Santa Fe by the town’s growing reputation as a center for artists, writers, and intellectuals.

In 1919, Austin started a small theater company, aptly named The Santa Fe Players.

Three years later, in 1922, The Santa Fe Players incorporated and performed in various temporary venues around town, such as tents at the rodeo grounds, and under makeshift shelters on the Plaza. Some early melodramas – which became an annual tradition to this day – were presented on temporary stages in the outdoor market, now the parking lot of Garrett’s Desert Inn on Old Santa Fe Trail.

In 1964, The Santa Fe Players moved into and renovated an old livery stable in the historic Barrio de Analco, making it into an actual theater space which they renamed “The Santa Fe Little Theatre.” This is a picture of that "old livery stable" which has been renovated.

The first sign was hung over the door in 1983 to establish what was, and continues to be, the Santa Fe Playhouse.

One of the original signers to the lease bequeathed a generous gift to the theater in 2008, enabling the Playhouse to finally purchase the more than 100-year-old building, thus giving the theater a permanent home at 142 East De Vargas Street.

Although the theater has gone through many transformations in name and structure, with uninterrupted seasons since 1922, the Santa Fe Playhouse is the largest producing theater in Santa Fe, and has earned the distinction of being “the oldest continuously producing theater west of the Mississippi.”
12/20/21 - Historic Homes in Barrio de Analco

The last part of my walking tour was a stroll down De Vargas Street, one of the oldest and most historic areas in Santa Fe.

The settlement in this area can be traced back to the early 1600's. Some of the oldest homes in Santa Fe still line this street.

The barrio was established not long after Santa Fe's founding in 1609-10, as a district for artists, laborers, and servants, while the area north of the river was occupied by the wealthy and powerful.

The buildings in this district, largely built to serve that type of community through several centuries, document the changes in architecture from a nearly pure native adobe construction (the "Oldest House"), to the Spanish Pueblo style, and then the Territorial.
12/20/21 - Historic Homes in Barrio de Analco

Strolling past some interesting doors along De Vargas St.
12/20/21 - Historic Homes in Barrio de Analco

Strolling past some interesting doors along De Vargas St.
12/20/21 - Historic Homes in Barrio de Analco

Roque Tudesqui House

Italy-born Santa Fe Trail trader Tudesqui bought this modest adobe home in 1839. When it was built is unknown.

The house is in the best preserved and oldest section of the Barrio de Analco. The barrio dates from the early 17th century. The building was a substantial five-room house by 1850.

In 1895 William L. Jones divided the property and sold the west portion Bertha L. Cartwright.
12/20/21 - Historic Homes in Barrio de Analco

Gregorio Crespín House (a private residence) at 132 East de Vargas Street, the western end of the Barrio de Analco, was part of the property owned in 1747 by Gregorio Crespín, who sold it for 50 pesos lo Bartolome Marquez with its "lands and an apricot tree."

Tree-ring specimens taken from vigas in the house indicate their cutting date as 1720-50, and thick adobe walls testify further to its antiquity. The Territorial trim was added in the nineteenth century.

The property was owned between 1850 and 1862 by Don Blas Roibal, whose son, Benito, sold it in 1867 to Don Anastacio Sandoval, for whom Sandoval Street was named.

The house was described as containing five rooms, a portal and a placita, with "free entry and exit on the north side." For many years it was known as the Van Stone House. The land itself was part of a tract granted by General de Vargas to Juan de León, a Tlaxcalan Indian who participated in the reconquest of 1693. This grant was later validated by Governor Domingo de Bustamante in 1728.
12/20/21 - Historic Homes in Barrio de Analco

One of the interesting old homes on De Vargas Street.
12/20/21 - Historic Homes in Barrio de Analco

One of the interesting old homes on De Vargas Street.