This 1,000-Year-Old Pueblo Bans Electricity and Running Water to Preserve Ancient Traditions

Taos Pueblo (New Mexico)

Sitting at 7,200 feet high in the Taos Valley, Taos Pueblo is the only active Native American community with both UNESCO World Heritage Site status and National Historic Landmark status.

The main adobe structures of Taos Pueblo were built between 1000 and 1450 CE.

Today, about 150 people live full-time within the old pueblo buildings. The broader Taos Pueblo community includes over 1,900 tribal members spread across their 99,000-acre homeland.

Here’s how it survived centuries of change and remains a living village.

The Ancient Adobe Architecture

The adobe walls of Taos Pueblo measure 28 inches thick at their base and narrow to about 14 inches at the top.

North House (Hlauuma) and South House (Hlaukwima) tower five stories high. These structures remain the largest multi-story Pueblo buildings still standing in the United States.

Cedar logs, called vigas, hold up the roofs of each level. Builders placed smaller pieces of wood known as latillas across these vigas, then added layers of branches, grass, mud, and plaster to keep out weather and hold in heat.

Each year, residents spread fresh adobe plaster on the outer walls during a special village ceremony. This yearly renewal keeps the buildings strong and links today’s residents to the ways of their ancestors.

From Cornfield Taos to Current Location

The first Taos Pueblo, now called “Cornfield Taos,” was built around 1325 CE just east of the present pueblo. This original settlement now exists as ruins and serves as a sacred site for the Taos people.

Limited digging at Cornfield Taos showed that the community moved west to its current site around 1400 CE.

Between 1000-1200 CE, the earliest homes in the Taos Valley were round pit houses built partly underground. These simple structures stayed naturally cool in summer and warm in winter.

Around 1200-1250 CE, square and rectangular homes began replacing the pit houses. This change in design included the addition of kivas, round underground chambers based on earlier pit house designs that served religious and community needs.

First Contact with Spanish Explorers

In 1540, members of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado’s expedition became the first Europeans to find Taos Pueblo.

These Spanish explorers were hunting for the legendary Seven Cities of Gold, which Native American stories had described to them.

Spanish explorer Hernando de Alvarado wrote about his first view of Taos Pueblo, noting the striking adobe houses built close together and stacked five or six stories high. The buildings looked much like they do today.

Spanish colonizer Juan de Oñate arrived in 1598, setting up a Spanish colony and building the first San Geronimo Mission at Taos Pueblo. This marked the start of Spanish attempts to control the region.

Around 1620, Fray Pedro de Miranda built a mission outpost near the village.

This move began forced Catholic conversion among the Taos people, who had practiced their own religion for centuries without outside pressure.

The Pueblo Revolt of 1680

On August 10, 1680, Taos Pueblo joined a planned uprising known as the Pueblo Revolt.

Pueblo people across the region attacked Spanish settlements on the same day. At Taos, people burned the mission and killed more than 70 Spanish settlers, including two priests.

Popé, a religious leader from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, planned the revolt after escaping to Taos Pueblo. Spanish authorities had earlier whipped him for leading native religious ceremonies.

Popé used knotted cords to coordinate timing across different pueblos, each knot stood for one day until the planned attack.

The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 remains the only successful Native uprising against a colonizing power in North American history. The coordinated action drove Spanish forces from New Mexico for 12 years, allowing Pueblo people to openly follow their traditional ways of life.

The Taos Revolt of 1847

On January 19, 1847, after American takeover of the region during the Mexican-American War, Taos Pueblo people joined local Hispanic residents in rebelling against the new United States territorial government.

Tomás Romero led a group of Taos Puebloans to the town of Taos, where they attacked the home of Charles Bent, the newly appointed American territorial governor.

The rebels killed Bent by shooting him with arrows and scalping him in front of his family.

Colonel Sterling Price, commander of U.S. forces in Santa Fe, responded by leading troops against the rebels. Price’s forces defeated the insurgents at the Battle of Cañada on January 24, 1847, forcing them to retreat to Taos Pueblo.

On February 3, 1847, Price bombarded Taos Pueblo and the church where defenders had taken shelter.

The next day, U.S. forces broke a hole in the church wall to fire shells and grapeshot into the sanctuary, killing more than 150 Pueblo people.

The Fight for Blue Lake

Blue Lake, called Ba Whyea in the Tiwa language, feeds the Rio Pueblo de Taos (Red Willow Creek) that flows through the pueblo. The Taos people believe this sacred lake is the source of all life and home to their ancestral spirits.

On February 1, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt made 48,000 acres of Taos mountain land, including Blue Lake, part of the new Carson National Forest.

This federal action took sacred lands from Taos Pueblo control without their agreement.

From 1906 to 1970, Taos Pueblo fought through American courts to reclaim their sacred site.

Tribal members John Concha, Seferino Martinez, Julian Lujan, Antonio Mirabal, Hilario Reyna, Manuel Cordova, and Cesario Romero gave testimony about their ancestral rights to the land before the Indian Claims Commission.

On December 15, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed Public Law 91-550, giving back 48,000 acres including Blue Lake to Taos Pueblo.

This law marked the first major return of land to a Native American tribe and set a precedent for indigenous land rights in the United States.

Spiritual and Religious Traditions

The Taos people maintain two spiritual traditions, practicing both their original native religious ceremonies and Roman Catholicism.

About 90% of tribal members have been baptized Catholic while continuing to take part in ancient tribal ceremonies that connect them to their pre-Colonial heritage.

Tiwa (Northern Tiwa) is the native language of Taos Pueblo. To preserve cultural integrity, the Taos people keep their oral traditions and native language unwritten and unrecorded. This practice protects the sacred nature of their spiritual knowledge from misuse.

In the Tanoan language of Taos, residents call their community simply “the village” (tə̂otho or tə̂obo). For ceremonial purposes, they use the more formal name ȉałopháymųp’ȍhə́othə̀olbo, which means “at red willow canyon mouth” – referring to the red willows growing along their river banks.

Sacred kivas – round underground chambers – serve as physical and spiritual centers for the community.

These structures host religious ceremonies and community gatherings, with access strictly limited to initiated tribal members who have earned the right to join specific rituals.

The San Geronimo Church

The present San Geronimo Chapel, finished in 1850, replaced the previous church destroyed during the 1847 Taos Revolt. U.S. forces shelled the earlier building when Pueblo fighters sought shelter inside during their final stand against American troops.

Visitors can still see ruins of the church destroyed in 1847 on the west side of the village, next to the Pueblo’s cemetery.

Cultural Celebrations and Ceremonies

The Annual San Geronimo Feast Day on September 30th begins with ceremonial foot races in the morning, open to public viewing starting at 8 AM.

Throughout the day, visitors can explore an open market with various vendors. From about 1 PM to 5 PM, the Koshare (sacred clowns) interact with the community through ritual performances.

On January 1st, Taos Pueblo celebrates the Turtle Dance to mark each new year.

Christmas celebrations at Taos Pueblo may feature either the Deer Dance (usually performed early to mid-afternoon) or Los Matachines Dance, depending on the community’s choice that year.

Visiting Taos Pueblo

Taos Pueblo welcomes visitors at 120 Veterans Highway, Taos, New Mexico 87571, about 3 miles northeast of Taos Plaza. Those wanting information before visiting can call the pueblo office at 575-758-1028.

Regular visiting hours run from 9 AM to 4 PM, Sunday through Saturday.

However, ceremonial days may change this schedule, so checking ahead is wise. Some ceremonies close the pueblo entirely, while others welcome respectful visitors.

During ceremonial events such as the Turtle Dance and parts of the San Geronimo Feast Day, the pueblo forbids photography, recording devices, and cell phone use.

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