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Home Featured

Five must-see attractions of Taos

September 28, 2018
in Featured, Travel
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Five must-see attractions of Taos

The Taos Pueblo is a World Heritage site. (Photos by Ron Stern)

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By Nancy Stern | Travel Tales

Ask a local what brought them to live in Taos, New Mexico and they would likely answer, “I think I was called to be here.”

The area’s art and culture, serene mountain views, eclectic food scene, early history, and unique architecture will keep visitors busy exploring all of the various attractions that make this city a magical place. Here are some of the best must-see wonders of Taos.

The Taos Pueblo is a World Heritage site. (Photos by Ron Stern)

Millicent Rogers Museum

The Millicent Rogers Museum is based on the life of a New York socialite who visited Taos in order to gain peace of mind. She fell in love with the thriving, edgy and artistic town. Over time, the fashion icon contributed her own sense of style and made an impact on the popular culture of her day.

Millicent Rogers’ unique chic style blends Native American turquoise and silver jewelry with high couture fashion. Along with a collection of her personal jewelry, there are displays of priceless Southwestern pottery, textile blankets and sarapes. More than 7,000 objects of art are rotated in the well-designed museum that was established as a memorial to her.

Taos Pueblo

San Francisco de Asis Church

Many Americans may not be aware that there are 19 Pueblo communities between Albuquerque and Taos. The northernmost of these, the Taos Pueblo, is believed to have been established nearly 1,000 years ago. It is the only living Native American community that has been given both the World Heritage Site designation by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and National Historic Landmark status.

For an admission fee, tourists can visit the walled-in city and hear resident guides speak about the historical culture and traditions. About 150 Pueblo inhabitants still live in their adobe homes with no electricity or running water — as simply as their ancestors did long ago.

Many who live there set up little shops outside their homes selling jewelry, Indian fry bread, pastries and crafts. As one young local said, “We don’t want to sell out to modernism; we want to keep it authentic.”

Taos Plaza

Located in the heart of downtown, Taos Plaza previously held a reputation of being a “wild and wooly West” hotspot. Shootings, hangings, excessive drinking and human trafficking all contributed to its notorious past.

Throughout the years, repeated fires burnt down the surrounding wood buildings until adobe construction put a halt to the destructive cycle. The Hotel La Fonda de Taos is testament to this as it has stood since 1820. Many celebrities and notable citizens have stayed here, including Judy Garland, Georgia O’ Keefe and Dennis Hopper.

The plaza is also a central meeting place for festivities. Throughout the summer on Thursday evenings, various local musicians are featured; tourists can also visit shops in the plaza that offer candles, jewelry, fine art and souvenirs. From May to October, a thriving farmers market on Saturdays sells fresh juices, produce, honey, homemade cheeses, breads and ethnic pastries.

Kit Carson Home and Museum

Kit Carson is a household name and part of American West folklore. Visit his original Taos home — now a museum — to learn about this legendary frontiersman who was highly respected among the people of his time. Tragically, his wife Josefa died 10 days after giving birth to her last child, and Carson passed away one month to the day after that. Their gravesite is a short distance away in the Kit Carson Cemetery.

Kit Carson’s gravesite alongside his wife Jesefa

An award-winning History Channel video accompanied with exhibits, story boards, and a well-stocked bookstore all impart information about this colorful period of history.

San Francisco de Asis Church

This popular tourist attraction is also an active church since its completion in about 1815. Recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1970, it is considered the oldest existing Catholic Church adobe structure in the Taos Valley and one of the finest examples of a Spanish Colonial New Mexican church. Georgia O’Keefe found its twin towers to be an inspiration for several of her famous paintings.

Parishioners and volunteers gather each year for the “enjarre” during the first two weeks of June. This is when the mudding (restoring the outside walls) occurs in the traditional way of mixing clay, straw, sand, and water.

Inside the hall hangs the 19th-century painting by artist Henri Ault, “The Shadow of the Cross,” which glows in the dark. Tourists can view it for a $3 donation to the church.

“There are no straight lines in Taos!” according to one guide. This can be found in the round curves of the adobe architecture, the cobblestones, and the many celestial symbols of the sun and moon in the local decor. Here, the relaxed attitude of the locals and shopkeepers slows down the pace of a once hurried tourist. The warm hues and bright colors happily stimulate the senses, compelling many to pull up stakes and make Taos their permanent home.

—Nancy Stern is a travel writer with her husband Ron Stern. This was a sponsored trip; however, all opinions herein are the author’s.

Tags: Five must-see attractions of TaosMillicent Rogers MuseumNancy SternNew MexicoTaosTaos PuebloWorld Heritage site
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Thomas Tony Vance

1 day ago

Thomas Tony Vance

An Economy and a Future That Includes All Our Citizens!

As much as we might hate it the 2020 election season started the second the mid-terms were over. Many old hats on the left were surprised that many of the young Democratic candidates won while espousing progressive policies and goals. If this is any indication then to win in 2020 Democrats need to offer the poor and middle class a new, 'New Deal'.
Damaged and disheartened, lied to and taken advantage of by the wealthy and those determined to hold power at any cost, they are yearning for relief and someone to actually do something to better their circumstances, and give them hope for a better future for them and their children. Healthcare for all, Free tuition at public colleges, Social Security at age 50 and some form of a limited Universal Basic Income to lift all our citizens out of abject poverty and give all our children a financial platform with which to begin their lives as productive adults in a thriving economy.
I watched an episode of the business program ‘On the Money’ on Sunday July 30, 2017. The first and main topic was something called Universal Income. The idea that instead of all the poverty programs and such, the Government should just give everybody a check every month for $1000 dollars. When one considers the gap between rich and poor, the rate of automation and the fact that there will never be enough jobs to go around it might be a better way of keeping our folks out of abject poverty. The drawback was the cost. One of the commentators said it would cost upwards of 3 trillion dollars. However there is a way to reach the goal of a Universal Income, eliminating abject poverty, and at a much lower cost. Here’s how.
Start by expanding Social Security. Eliminate the cap on taxable income and raise the tax to 8% from the current rate of 6.2%. Then lower the age of eligibility to 50 years.
Create a stipend that will give a check to all adults and High School Grads of $1000 a month. Those who do not finish High School should have to wait till they are 20 to encourage them to finish school. They can use this fund to support them if they go to college or to help them in getting started in life. Our wealthy students are able to go to college and do well precisely because they have a financial platform to support them. This would give all our students the same support. Every child we shepherd thru College is possibly the guy who will cure cancer or invent star drive or save the planet. Investing in our children is like buying a lottery ticket for humanity! To pay for it, go to the Stock Market and place a tax of 3% on all trades to fund the stipend. The market in 2016 did, according to the World Bank, over 42 trillion in trades and a 3% tax won’t break the bank. The payments should be set up so one gradually loses the stipend as they move up the economic ladder in a way that will encourage advancement, for example one would lose $100 of the stipend for every $10,000 in reported income so that when one is making $100,000 a year they lose the stipend entirely. A basic stipend would allow us to eliminate all those poverty programs conservatives always complain about. Currently we spend a trillion dollars on some 126 anti-poverty programs and their elimination would certainly offset the cost of the stipend.
Imagine the country with no one in abject poverty. Imagine the numbers of kids now being able to go to college because they have the financial support to do so. The economic force of all that spending would drive the economy to new heights and would certainly close the income gap between the rich and poor that is hurting our economy and country.
A basic stipend would free workers from starving or being held in economic servitude, making only enough to pay for enough food to be able to work another 40 hours. Business would have to bid for one’s labor instead of workers begging for a job! We can take back the dignity and value our labor should produce. We can boost the spending power of the poor and middle class and leave behind the failed and greedy policy of ‘trickle down’ economics which has damaged our economy and brought about the latest version of the Great Recession! Employers would benefit too. Not having to spend on unemployment or health insurance would save them money and allow them to pay better wages.
Yep, we can do this if we only have the will. We can make this country live up to the promises articulated by President Roosevelt in his famous ‘Four Freedoms” speech, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Fear and the last which always seems to be forgotten, Freedom from want! We have the power and wealth to accomplish the last of these. The mechanics are in place. The tools are available to us. Let us make a better country and thereby a better world by finishing the work set out for us by President Roosevelt some 76 years ago.
Democrats can win but not with the same old mid-center or center-left policies and platform. They must offer us an economy and a vision that really works for us all, brings us together and moves the Country and its people forward to a bright future that includes all our citizens!
...

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