Santa Fe National Historic Trail (Part 2)

These are the coffins of two early Franciscan friars, Friar Ascencio Zarate and Friar Geronimo de la Llano, interred in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

A reliquary contains relics, which may be the remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or objects associated with saints or deceased religious figures. This reliquary displays relics associated with the Holy Cross, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Teresa of Kolkata, Saint John Paul II, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Mary Loreto, Saint Vincent the Martr, Saint Gabriel Possenti the Confessor, Saint Antonii Patavani, Saint Monica, Saint Veronica Juliani, Saint Justin, Saint Lucian of Antioch, Saint Katherine Mary Drexel, Saint Francis Xavier, Saint Maria Goretti, Saint Felicity, Saint Camillus, Saint Clare of Assisi, Saint Pius X, Saint Anthony of Padua, the Blessed Maria de Jesus, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux of the Child Jesus, Saint Martin of Tours, and Saint Thomas Aquinas.

This Statue of La Conquistadora was dedicated in 2004.

The Loretto Chapel is a museum and wedding chapel in a former Roman Catholic church that is claimed to be the first Gothic building west of the Mississippi River. Following the creation of the Apostolic Vicariate of New Mexico in 1850, Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy requested that the Catholic teaching orders open a school for girls. Six sisters of the Sisters of Loretto learned Spanish and traveled to the New Mexico Territory, with the Mother Superior dying on the way. The sisters arrived in 1852 and opened Our Lady of Light Academy (later renamed Loretto Academy) in 1853. In 1873, Bishop Lamy suggested that the sisters use the architects of the Cathedral of Saint Francis of Assisi to build a chapel for the academy. The chapel was modeled after the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, France and consecrated in 1878. It was originally called the Chapel of Our Lady of Light but was later renamed Loretto Chapel. The Loretto Chapel is famous for the Miraculous Staircase, which rises 20 feet in two full turns to reach the choir loft with no obvious source of structural support. The chapel architect died before constructing an access to the choir loft and a regular staircase would have taken up too much space in the small chapel. It is said that the sisters prayed a novena, a special prayer repeated for nine successive days, to Saint Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. On the last day of the novena, a stranger offered to build the staircase. He used simple tools and disappeared before the sisters could learn his identity or pay him. Many saw the staircase as a miracle constructed by Saint Joseph. The staircase is mostly made of spruce that is not native to the American Southwest and is held together using wooden pegs with no glue or nails. Since descending the staircase was frightening to some, railings were added by Phillip August Hesch in 1887. After the Loretto Academy closed in 1968, the campus was demolished and Loretto Chapel was turned into a museum and wedding venue.

San Miguel Chapel is a Spanish colonial mission church built sometime between 1610 and 1626, making it the oldest church in the continental United States. It was constructed by Tlaxcalans under the direction of Franciscan friars over an Ancestral Pueblo settlement from c. 1300 in an area called El Barrio de Analco, or “The Neighborhood of Analco.” The Tlaxcalans came with the Spanish colonists from Mexico and in their Nahuatl language, Analco means “On the Other Side of the Water,” describing the location of the community across the Santa Fe River. Since missionary work was a priority, this church was constructed before the church by Santa Fe Plaza. It was first referred to as La Hermita de San Miguel, or “The Shrine of St. Micheal the Archangel,” in 1628.

Governor Luis de Rosas expelled the Franciscans from Santa Fe and partially dismantled San Miguel Chapel in 1640 but the Franciscans returned to rebuild it after De Rosas was jailed. The roof of the church was burned during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, but Governor Diego de Vargas had it repaired after retaking Santa Fe de Nuevo México for the Spanish in 1692. However, the hasty work proved inadequate and the church was rebuilt by Agustín Flores Vergara in 1710. In 1798, Santa Fe Alcalde Mayor Jose Antonio Ortiz helped fund major repairs to the building and the construction of the reredros. The bell tower was installed around 1848. In 1859, Bishop Lamy bought San Miguel Chapel and the adjacent land for the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools who established El Colegio de San Miguel, or “Saint Michael's College,” on the adjacent site. Some repairs and additions were made to the chapel in 1862. In 1872, a powerful storm collapsed the upper levels of the tower and the rest of the structure deteriorated significantly by the 1880s. In 1887, the church was restored in a more European appearance but much of that work was removed during the most recent remodeling of the church in 1955. The church is a contributing property in the Barrio de Analco Historic District, which was designated a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register Historic Places in 1968.

It is uncertain how much, if any, of the original building was reused in reconstructions of the chapel but the church claims that the original adobe walls remain under the stucco exterior.

The Statue of Saint Michael the Archangel wielding a sword was carved in what is now Mexico and dates no later than 1709, when Franciscan friars carried it throughout Santa Fe de Nuevo México to collect donations for the reconstruction of the chapel in 1710. The statue stands at the bottom center of the wooden reredos, which was installed in 1798 and said to be the work of an unnamed artisan called the "Laguna Santero." On either side of the statue are 19thcentury bultos of unidentified saints. At the top center is a c. 1745 painting of Saint Michael the Archangel attributed to Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco and under that is a painting of Christ the Nazarene from the mid-18th century. The four oval paintings were completed in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico) in the early 18th century. Clockwise from top left, they depict Saint Teresa of Ávila, Saint Clare of Assisi, Saint Louis IX, King of France, and Saint Francis of Assisi.

The Old San Jose Bell hung in the bell tower from around 1856 until it collapsed in 1872. The bell is mostly copper, weighs 780 pounds, and has an inscription that translates as “Saint Joseph pray for us August 9, 1356.” Legend has it that the origins of the bell can be traced back to the Moorish occupation of Spain when the villagers of San Jose in Andalucia prayed to Saint Joseph for protection. After they emerged victorious, they melted down their gold, silver, and precious belongings to cast a bell as a tribute. The bell was rung with each successive victory over the Moors until they were driven out of Spain in 1492. At some point the bell was sent to the New World where it eventually ended up in Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (Veracruz, Mexico). In 1812, Loretta Ortiz de Santa Fe bought the bell and transported it to her hacienda in Santa Fe. In 1848, Simon Delgado purchased the bell and the San Miguel Chapel and he moved the bell into the chapel tower around 1856. The 1872 storm that collapsed the tower also damaged the bell, which was moved inside the church. However, the more likely story behind the origins of the bell is that it was cast in 1856 and casting defects contributed to the eight appearing as a three. In 1914, an 85-year-old man named Clement Ortiz testified that he had witnessed the casting of the bell in 1856. It has also been noted that the bell is not stylistically similar to 14th century church bells.

The De Vargas Street House is considered by some to be one of the oldest buildings in United States and is commonly referred to as the Oldest House. Its exact age is unknown but most of the building is believed to be from the Spanish Colonial Period (1610-1680; 1693-1821). In 1902, archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett noted that three sections of wall were constructed of puddled adobe, which was used by Puebloans before the Spanish arrived. Hewett believed that the building was built sometime during the Spanish Colonial Period but may have been partially constructed on the foundation of a Puebloan structure. However, Adolph Bandelier disagreed over the existence of the Puebloan structure and placed the building’s construction in the 1690s. By 1903, the building was in a state of disrepair but it was added to St. Micheal’s College and the second floor was later reconstructed in the 1920s. Along with San Miguel Chapel, the Oldest House is listed as a contributing property in the Barrio de Analco Historic District.

The Cross of the Martyrs in L. Bradford Prince Memorial Park commemorates the 21 Franciscan friars and approximately 380 Spanish colonists killed in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The original cross was constructed of concrete by the Midland Bridge Company and dedicated during the Fiesta de Santa Fe of 1920. It is 25 feet high, eight feet wide, weighs 76 tons, and stands near La Cruz Road, which was named after the memorial. This newer cross was constructed of steel and erected by the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and the Santa Fe Fiesta Council in 1977.

This plaque lists the names of the 21 Franciscan friars who lost their lives alongside the mission where they served.

The Cross of the Martyrs overlooks Santa Fe about 650 yards northeast of Santa Fe Plaza. In 1821, at the end of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain, the Mexican flag was raised above the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe Plaza, which was renamed La Plaza de la Constitución during the Mexican Period (1821-1846). In 1846, a dispute over the border of the newly annexed State of Texas caused the United States to declare war on the Republic of Mexico. Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearney gathered about 1,700 soldiers and led the Army of the West into Santa Fe where he claimed New Mexico for the United States from Santa Fe Plaza on August 18, 1846. The trade hub of Santa Fe was a critical loss for Mexico as it served as the intersection of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Santa Fe Trail, and the Old Spanish Trail.

Following the capture of Santa Fe, Brigadier General Kearney tasked chief engineers William Emory and Jeremy Gilmer with finding the best site for a defensive fort to prevent a potential insurrection by the local population. Lt. Emory identified this flat-topped hill with its commanding view of Santa Fe as the perfect spot for the fort. The fort ramparts were constructed nine feet high and five feet thick and topped with adobe walls in an irregular tetradecagon (14-sided) shape surrounded by an eight-foot-deep moat. An adobe blockhouse and powder magazine were built nearby to store artillery and weapons. Brigadier General Kearney named the fort after his boss, U.S. Secretary of War William L. Marcy. Although Fort Marcy was the first U.S. Army fort in the American Southwest, it was never meant to be a permanent installation and all that remains of it today are a series of mounds on top of the hill.

Fort Marcy could hold 1,000 soldiers but was never garrisoned or used to defend Santa Fe. The fort instead stood as a symbol of American military control over the region, offering protection to travelers on the Santa Fe Trail and troops stationed at the Post of Santa Fe. The Post was located between Fort Marcy and the Palace of the Governors and included the Army headquarters, hospital, storehouses, and gardens. In 1847, New Mexico Governor Charles Bent was assassinated in the Taos Revolt by a group of Hispanos and Puebloans who believed that the Americans would take their lands, erase their cultures, and prevent them from practicing their religions. In response, the commander of Fort Marcy, Colonel Sterling Price, led the 1st Dragoons to easily defeat the rebels. Later that year the artillery at Fort Marcy was moved to Army buildings near the plaza and the fort began to slowly erode. In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War and officially annexed New Mexico to the United States. The Compromise of 1850 then established the New Mexico Territory. In 1853, then U.S. Secretary of State William L. Marcy negotiated the Gadsden Purchase with Mexico, adding portions of southern Arizona and New Mexico in the last major land acquisition in the continental United States.

By the mid-1850s, Fort Marcy deteriorated into ruins that children used as a playground. In 1862, during the Civil War, the New Mexico Territory was invaded by 3,300 Confederate soldiers under the command of Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley. The Confederates gained a major victory over Union troops at the Battle of Valverde and captured Albuquerque and Santa Fe but were defeated at the Battle of Glorieta Pass and forced to retreat. Fort Marcy was abandoned by an executive order signed by President Andrew Johnson in 1868. In 1887, Tassie Wilson and her friends found Spanish coins underneath the walls of Fort Marcy and news of the discovery attracted many locals who promptly dug up the area and knocked over the remaining walls. In 1891, the government sold the Fort Marcy site, which was later acquired by Santa Fe in 1961. The Fort Marcy Ruins were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

The Cross of the Martyrs and Fort Marcy Ruins can be found in L. Bradford Prince Memorial Park, which is named for LeBaron Bradford Prince, who served as chief justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court (1878-1882) and as governor of the New Mexico Territory (1889-1893). He compiled the laws passed since the start of American occupation with the older Spanish irrigation, mining, and community customs and rights to form the first New Mexico Statutes. He was a champion of equal rights for Spanish-speaking citizens, publishing proclamations in both English and Spanish, and he influenced Legislature to establish the first public school system. Prince advocated for New Mexico statehood and continued to do so after leaving office. In 1906, Congress passed an act allowing New Mexico and Arizona to form one large state but Arizona residents voted against it. Prince finally saw New Mexico become the 47th state in 1912. In 2005, Santa Fe was designated as the first UNESCO Creative City in the United States.