The Misión Museum y Convento, Plaza de Española, Española, New Mexico
– Click on the image to enlarge or purchase –
Twenty miles north of Santa Fe on Hwy. 285, Espanola has for a century been the heart of New Mexico’s northern mountain and pueblo communities. The current town of Espanola was founded in the 1880s as a stop on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Legend has it that a Spanish woman sold food from a tent on the present town site. When a worker was hungry, he was advised to “go to La Espanola.” The name stuck and the city was born. The railroad has disappeared, but the city has grown and prospered as the commercial center for the Valley’s smaller villages.
New Mexico’s first Spanish community was established by Don Juan de Onate in 1598, just north of city limits on San Juan Pueblo land. That settlement was short-lived as Santa Fe took over as the focal point of conquering Spaniards. But the village of Santa Cruz with its historic church which we visited in an earlier post, now almost an Espanola suburb, has been settled for over three centuries.
The Misión Museum y Convento, Plaza de Española, Española, New Mexico
– Click on the image to enlarge or purchase –
The Plaza de Espanola is the historical and cultural center of the city. The Mision Museum y Convento is one of four modern sites located on the plaza detailing the heritage of the area. It is a replica of the original mission built by the Spanish at the nearby San Gabriel settlement in 1598.
0 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks