Post by blackcrowheart on Nov 22, 2005 13:14:01 GMT -5
Road to history
Heritage center celebrates origin, importance of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
By Ollie Reed Jr.
Tribune Reporter
November 12, 2005
At first, hundreds of years before the Europeans arrived, it was only a system of worn footpaths snaking between what is now Mexico and the American Southwest.
Native peoples used these trails to exchange goods from the south for goods from the north - parrot feathers for turquoise, sea shells for salt, copper bells for peyote.
It was only some years after the Spanish established Mexico City in 1519 that the old trading tracks became El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Royal Road of the Interior, which stretched 1,500 miles between Mexico City and the Espa?ola Valley north of Santa Fe. Four hundred miles of the Royal Road passes through New Mexico, primarily along the route I-25 runs today.
IF YOU GO
What: Opening of El Camino Real Heritage Center, New Mexico's newest state monument.
When: Nov. 19. Ribbon-cutting at 11 a.m.; matanza, barbecue, music, artisan demonstrations, noon-5 p.m.
Where: Exit 115 off I-25, between Socorro and Truth of Consequences.
How much: Free.
Also:
What: A fund-raising gala with music, food, tours with celebrity guides and an auction of paintings of period artifacts.
When: :5:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 18.
Where: :El Camino Real Heritage Center.
How much:: $100
Call :(505) 476-1151 or go to www.caminorealheritage.org and www.nmmonuments.org.
Also:
What: Festival of the Cranes
When: :Tuesday through Nov. 20
Where: :Soccoro and the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, Exit 139 off I-25, south of Socorro
How much: :Costs for wide array of events range from $5 up to $275 for an advanced wildlife photography workshop.
Call: (505) 835-2077 or (505) 835-8927 or go to www.friendsofthebosque.org/crane.
"It is one of the great roads of the West," says Paul Hutton, University of New Mexico history professor. "It stands with the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail and, in our own time, Route 66.
"It is one of those mystical roads that capture our imagination and are of real importance to our history."
On Nov. 19, El Camino Real International Heritage Center, New Mexico's newest state monument, opens 30 miles south of Socorro, along the old route whose history it celebrates.
The center's opening is timed to coincide with the 18th annual Festival of the Cranes, which begins Tuesday and continues through Nov. 20 with a multitude of events - wildlife tours, lectures, exhibitions, etc. - in Socorro and at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, south of Socorro.
Festival activities mark the return of sandhill cranes to Bosque del Apache. The cranes are among the tens of thousands of birds - Arctic geese and many kinds of ducks - that winter at the refuge.
Shuttle buses running on Nov. 19 offer the public the chance to take advantage of both the crane festival and El Camino Real center's opening by moving people between Socorro, Truth or Consequences, the center and the wildlife refuge. Buses run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Pickup point in Socorro is at Bureau of Land Management office, 901 S. Hwy. 85.
The El Camino Real center building, designed by Dekker Perich & Sabatini of Albuquerque, gives the impression of a ship afloat in the desert sea. It is said that hundreds of years ago, the high desert grasses blowing in the wind reminded travelers along El Camino Real of ocean waves.
Exhibits of art, artifacts and devotional items used along the road and representations of first-person accounts of people who journeyed along it will give center visitors a history of El Camino Real.
History, of course, is as much a part of the road as wagon ruts.
In 1598, Juan de O?ate led settlers along the road from Mexico to new homes near present-day Espa?ola.
During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Spanish settlers fled south along it to safety in El Paso.
In 1694, Diego Jos? de Vargas led men back up El Camino Real to the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, once again establishing a Spanish presence in New Mexico.
And the American invasion of Mexico took place along the road during the Mexican War of 1846-48.
Despite all those intrusions and retreats and all the fighting that went up and down El Camino Real as a result, Hutton said the road was really an avenue of commerce.
"And as such, it never worked," Hutton said. "It was so long - that distance is mind boggling for people in wagons - and so exposed it didn't provide the vital connection between the peoples of the north and the peoples of the south.
"It doesn't hold New Spain together."
But, as El Camino Real center exhibits demonstrate, the road did expose the people who used it to cultures different than their own. It was instrumental in the mingling of the American Indian, Hispanic and Anglo cultures that are still part of New Mexico.
"That's the real importance of this road," Hutton said. "It's not just bringing these people together but bringing their cultures together."
Heritage center celebrates origin, importance of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
By Ollie Reed Jr.
Tribune Reporter
November 12, 2005
At first, hundreds of years before the Europeans arrived, it was only a system of worn footpaths snaking between what is now Mexico and the American Southwest.
Native peoples used these trails to exchange goods from the south for goods from the north - parrot feathers for turquoise, sea shells for salt, copper bells for peyote.
It was only some years after the Spanish established Mexico City in 1519 that the old trading tracks became El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Royal Road of the Interior, which stretched 1,500 miles between Mexico City and the Espa?ola Valley north of Santa Fe. Four hundred miles of the Royal Road passes through New Mexico, primarily along the route I-25 runs today.
IF YOU GO
What: Opening of El Camino Real Heritage Center, New Mexico's newest state monument.
When: Nov. 19. Ribbon-cutting at 11 a.m.; matanza, barbecue, music, artisan demonstrations, noon-5 p.m.
Where: Exit 115 off I-25, between Socorro and Truth of Consequences.
How much: Free.
Also:
What: A fund-raising gala with music, food, tours with celebrity guides and an auction of paintings of period artifacts.
When: :5:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 18.
Where: :El Camino Real Heritage Center.
How much:: $100
Call :(505) 476-1151 or go to www.caminorealheritage.org and www.nmmonuments.org.
Also:
What: Festival of the Cranes
When: :Tuesday through Nov. 20
Where: :Soccoro and the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, Exit 139 off I-25, south of Socorro
How much: :Costs for wide array of events range from $5 up to $275 for an advanced wildlife photography workshop.
Call: (505) 835-2077 or (505) 835-8927 or go to www.friendsofthebosque.org/crane.
"It is one of the great roads of the West," says Paul Hutton, University of New Mexico history professor. "It stands with the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail and, in our own time, Route 66.
"It is one of those mystical roads that capture our imagination and are of real importance to our history."
On Nov. 19, El Camino Real International Heritage Center, New Mexico's newest state monument, opens 30 miles south of Socorro, along the old route whose history it celebrates.
The center's opening is timed to coincide with the 18th annual Festival of the Cranes, which begins Tuesday and continues through Nov. 20 with a multitude of events - wildlife tours, lectures, exhibitions, etc. - in Socorro and at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, south of Socorro.
Festival activities mark the return of sandhill cranes to Bosque del Apache. The cranes are among the tens of thousands of birds - Arctic geese and many kinds of ducks - that winter at the refuge.
Shuttle buses running on Nov. 19 offer the public the chance to take advantage of both the crane festival and El Camino Real center's opening by moving people between Socorro, Truth or Consequences, the center and the wildlife refuge. Buses run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Pickup point in Socorro is at Bureau of Land Management office, 901 S. Hwy. 85.
The El Camino Real center building, designed by Dekker Perich & Sabatini of Albuquerque, gives the impression of a ship afloat in the desert sea. It is said that hundreds of years ago, the high desert grasses blowing in the wind reminded travelers along El Camino Real of ocean waves.
Exhibits of art, artifacts and devotional items used along the road and representations of first-person accounts of people who journeyed along it will give center visitors a history of El Camino Real.
History, of course, is as much a part of the road as wagon ruts.
In 1598, Juan de O?ate led settlers along the road from Mexico to new homes near present-day Espa?ola.
During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Spanish settlers fled south along it to safety in El Paso.
In 1694, Diego Jos? de Vargas led men back up El Camino Real to the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, once again establishing a Spanish presence in New Mexico.
And the American invasion of Mexico took place along the road during the Mexican War of 1846-48.
Despite all those intrusions and retreats and all the fighting that went up and down El Camino Real as a result, Hutton said the road was really an avenue of commerce.
"And as such, it never worked," Hutton said. "It was so long - that distance is mind boggling for people in wagons - and so exposed it didn't provide the vital connection between the peoples of the north and the peoples of the south.
"It doesn't hold New Spain together."
But, as El Camino Real center exhibits demonstrate, the road did expose the people who used it to cultures different than their own. It was instrumental in the mingling of the American Indian, Hispanic and Anglo cultures that are still part of New Mexico.
"That's the real importance of this road," Hutton said. "It's not just bringing these people together but bringing their cultures together."