Roads to Yesterday from Santa Fe
San Ildefonso Pueblo
San Ildefonso Pueblo was only twenty-five miles north of Santa Fe, so it was easily just a half-day trip on the Roads to Yesterday which could be combined with others. The Detourists and their Harveycar parked next to the great kiva (estufa) at San Ildefonso.
San Ildefonso Pueblo northwest of Santa Fe, was the home of the world-famous potter Maria Martinez, known for her distinctive black-on-black pottery. For more information about Maria, please click on the picture.
Bandelier National Monument
Bandelier is on the Pajarito Plateau above San Ildefonso Pueblo which is on the east bank of the Rio Grande. Fred Harvey Detours brochures referred to Bandelier as "Frijoles," indicating that it was on El Rito de los Frijoles (Little River of the Beans). This kiva was located in a cave above the valley.
Bandelier National Monument offers glimpses of Ancestral Puebloan homes in caves and in the valley below. This is the kiva seen in the previous photo, reached today, (as it was in the Detourist's day) by climbing a series of ladders up the cliff face. Couriers were allowed to wear pants when they were climbing ladders with the dudes. Fred Harvey Detours brochures alerted the dudes that this was a strenuous hike.
Four ladders lead up to the cave containing the kiva. Warning signs advise visitors to use caution, and not attempt the ladders if afraid of heights. For more information about Bandelier National Monument click on the picture.
The Road To Taos
The highlight of any Roads to Yesterday Detour from Santa Fe would be the journey north to Taos. This was a difficult trip in the 1920s and ‘30s. The sixty-five-mile drive along the Rio Grande and the Rio Pueblo took about three hours, so it would have been more comfortable for the Detourists to stay overnight in Taos at the Don Fernando Hotel, rather than making the long journey back in the late afternoon. And there was so much to see in the Taos area—Ranchos de Taos with its historic church, the plaza in Taos with its shops and art galleries, and of course, Taos Pueblo at the north end of town.
The distinctive San Francisco de Asis (Saint Francis of Assisi) Church in Ranchos de Taos on the Roads to Yesterday was completed in 1815. Almost every year it undergoes an "enjarre" which is the process of applying a mud mixture to the walls to preserve the adobe bricks underneath.
A Harveycar is parked at Taos Pueblo, about 65 miles north of Santa Fe, with snow-capped Taos Mountain in the background. Archaeologists have dated the construction of Taos Pueblo at about 1350 A.D. For more information about visiting the pueblo today, please click on the photo.