Two Hams on the Road

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

On the road again!

We are in Santa Fe, New Mexico!  Here’s the view from my window.

Santa Fe was the capital of this area when the Spanish and Tlaxcalan Indians settled it in the early 1600’s.  The San Miguel church dates back to 1610, making it the oldest church in the continental United States.  (Puerto Rico has 3 older churches dating back as far as 1521.)

While it has undergone many changes in 400 years, the original walls and alter remain.  It still holds Sunday services.

Near the church, Santa Fe also claims the oldest house in the US, the De Vargas Street house, dating to 1646. 

The rooms were small and hard to photograph, but you can see the deep windowsill and the blocked door (on the left).  The fireplace is typical of an adobe fireplace.

But a bit of research shows that the oldest house title belongs to the Fairbanks house in Massachusetts.  It was built in 1637.   To put that in perspective, the pilgrims landed in 1620 and Jamestown was established in 1607.  

The Palace of Governors here was built in 1610 by the Spanish and is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the continental US, being beaten (once again) by Puerto Rico, whose Governor’s Palace was built in 1533 and is still in use. The Palace sits on a public square that was getting set up for the Fourth of July celebrations and we managed not to get a picture.  But it is in the same Spanish/Mexican architecture as much of Santa Fe, even the modern buildings.

This is a modern commercial building just off the main square.

Most of the houses here are in the same style, making the peaked roof houses we’re used to seeing in other parts of the country look out of place here.

We also stopped at the Loretto Chapel, a Victorian structure built in 1878.  It has a unique stairway that goes through two 360 degree turns with no visible means of support.  The stairway was built by an itinerant carpenter and there are many mysteries surrounding it.

Santa Fe didn’t become a US possession until 1848.  Until that time it was under Spanish or Mexican control, along with most of the western US, including Texas.   It was and is the capital of the area and now state.  Spanish is still a major language in this area; it predates English by over 200 years.

For any fans of Ben Hur, it was written by Lew Wallace, who lived in Crawfordsville, IN. Lew Wallace was named Governor of the New Mexico territory in 1878.  The person at the tourist bureau said that he wasn’t happy here and spent his time here finishing Ben Hur.  We’ve visited his library in Crawfordsville.

Hopefully I’ll blog more as we head up through Colorado.

Deb