Taos: The Pueblo That Inspired a Thousand Artists
Taos Pueblo has been continuously inhabited for over a thousand years - multi-story adobe buildings standing against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, one of the oldest continuously occupied communities in North America. The pueblo's presence shaped everything that followed: Spanish missionaries who arrived in the 1600s, mountain men who traded here in the 1800s, and the artists who discovered Taos in the early 1900s and never stopped coming. Georgia O'Keeffe painted here; D.H. Lawrence died here (his ashes are preserved in a shrine north of town); Ansel Adams photographed here. The Taos art colony that formed a century ago persists today in dozens of galleries. Add New Age practitioners, ski bums heading to Taos Ski Valley, and tourists drawn by the adobe aesthetic, and you have a town of 6,000 that punches far above its cultural weight.
The Pueblo
Taos Pueblo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its north and south adobe buildings believed to have been built between 1000 and 1450 AD. About 150 people live in the main structures year-round, without electricity or running water by choice - preserving traditional life. The pueblo is open to visitors (entry fee required), though portions close for ceremonial observances. The multi-story buildings, made of adobe (earth mixed with water and straw), have been continuously maintained for centuries - walls rebuilt, roofs replaced, the forms enduring. Red Willow Creek runs through the pueblo, supplying water. The setting, against snow-capped mountains, explains why artists kept coming: this is the American Southwest distilled to essence.
The Art Colony
Artists discovered Taos around 1898, when Bert Phillips and Ernest Blumenschein's wagon broke down nearby. They stayed. The Taos Society of Artists formed in 1915, promoting the town's landscape and indigenous culture to Eastern galleries. Georgia O'Keeffe visited in 1929 and spent years painting the surrounding landscape; her work defined how America sees New Mexico. D.H. Lawrence lived at a ranch north of town (now owned by the University of New Mexico) where his ashes are kept. Ansel Adams photographed the pueblo and mountains. The art colony attracted more artists; galleries multiplied; today Taos has dozens of galleries for a town of 6,000. The light, the landscape, the cultural layers - whatever drew Phillips and Blumenschein still draws artists today.
The Gorge
The Rio Grande Gorge cuts through the landscape west of Taos, a dramatic canyon 800 feet deep in places. The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge spans the chasm on Highway 64, offering views that induce vertigo - 650 feet straight down to the river. The Taos Box, a section of the Rio Grande within the gorge, provides some of the best whitewater in the Southwest during spring runoff. The Rio Grande del Norte National Monument protects the gorge and surrounding plateau, a landscape of sagebrush and volcanic formations that feels otherworldly. The bridge is ten miles from town; the view is free and unforgettable.
High Desert Spirituality
Taos attracted hippies and seekers in the 1960s and 70s, drawn by the same light and landscape that attracted artists. The New Age community established itself: energy healers, crystal shops, meditation retreats. The Earthship Biotecture community west of town builds sustainable homes from recycled materials, a utopian experiment in desert living. Taos Ski Valley, north of town in the Sangre de Cristos, offers challenging terrain that draws serious skiers. The mix - ancient pueblo, art colony, New Age community, ski culture - creates something unique. Taos is too small to contain its contradictions; somehow it does.
Mountain Town
Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ) is 130 miles south; Santa Fe Airport (SAF) is 70 miles. The drive from Santa Fe follows the Rio Grande or the 'High Road' through mountain villages - both routes spectacular. The town centers on the historic plaza, surrounded by adobe architecture housing galleries, restaurants, and shops. Kit Carson's home is now a museum. Wheeler Peak, New Mexico's highest at 13,167 feet, rises northeast of town. From altitude, Taos appears as a small town in a high valley - the Sangre de Cristo Mountains rising to the east, the Rio Grande Gorge cutting west, Taos Pueblo visible north of town - the adobe community where artists and seekers found what they were looking for.
From the Air
Located at 36.41°N, 105.57°W in a high valley at 6,950 feet elevation, at the western base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. From altitude, Taos appears as a small settlement in an arid valley - the mountains rising dramatically to the east, the Rio Grande Gorge visible as a dark line to the west, Taos Pueblo just north of town. What appears from the air as a tiny high desert community is where Taos Pueblo has stood for a millennium, where artists found inspiration, and where the American Southwest concentrates its magic.