New Mexico

The village of Tiptonville was an important stop for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. It was located on the Mountain Branch (route) of the Trail and another major Trail branch, the Cimarron, passed just to its east. Tiptonville depended on the Santa Fe Trail trade for its survival. However, when the Santa Fe Trail trade stopped, the village did not end. People still call Tiptonville home today.

This Gothic Revival chapel, started in 1873 and completed in 1878, was built by young French architect Projectus Mouly for the Sisters of Loretto. In 1855, Jean Baptiste Lamy moved the Loretto Academy here into a former hotel he bought in 1854, La Casa Americana (the American House).

Built circa 1786 for Lobato, an armorer and soldier of Santa Fe’s Royal Spanish Garrison. Santa Fe Trail trader Don Gaspar Ortiz y Alarid bought the buildint in 1852. The ruins of Santa Fe’s fortress and powder magazine, La Garita (little guardhouse), built in 1807, stood just northeast of the house until 1954. Private residence; photo permissions not granted.

Stop by and enjoy many photos and artifacts of the Santa Fe Trail, especially those from the Las Vegas, New Mexico area. The Santa Fe Trail Interpretive center located in the Bridge Street Historic District can provide visitors with an in-depth history of the Santa Fe Trail through books, brochures and original photos of many interesting locations and events along the trail. Visit with the knowledgeable staff who can describe each photo and its importance.

Born in Sonora, Mexico, Doña Maria Gertrudes Barcelo operated her lavishly decorated saloon and gambling hall here from 1832-36 until her death. Reputedly the best monte dealer in Santa Fe, the red-haired, cigar-smoking “Doña Tules” soon grew wealthy. Historic Burro Alley is adjacent to the building.

Quebec-born Santa Fe Trail trader Francois Aubry, whose enduring fame came in 1848, after racing on horseback across the Santa Fe Trail from here to Independence, Missouri in record time (five days, 16 hours) to win a $1,000 bet, died here in 1854 after a bar room argument with ex-newspaperman Richard Weightman.

One of two surviving Ft. Marcy officers’ quarters built around 1871, it became a 10-day vacation home for former President Ulysses S. Grant and his family in 1880. Bought in 1904 by Bergere, the England-born son of a wealthy Italian shipping magnate, the 7-room home got a full second floor and Pueblo Revival Style makeover in 1926.

In her published memoirs (1954; Land Of Enchantment), Santa Fe Trail traveler Marian Russell recalled her widowed mother, Eliza, operating a $45 a month boarding house here in 1852-54. It is now the home of the New Mexico Museum of Art.

This surviving Fort Marcy officers’ quarters, once the Quartermaster’s home, was remodeled in the Pueblo Revival Style in 1916. Fort Marcy was built in 1846 and was the first in New Mexico Territory. The building became the lifetime home of the Edgar Lee Hewett, the Director of the Museum of New Mexico (in 1909) and School of American Research (1917).

Doña "Tules" Barcelo’s one-story, flat-roofed, courtyard home was just across the street from her saloon and gambling hall. Born around 1800-1811, she died here in 1852. The Pueblo Revival Style court house replaced it in 1940.