The conservation and development of a historic vernacular Spanish-American cultural landscape: The village of Chimayo, New Mexico

Abstract

This is a landscape study of the Spanish-American village of Chimayo, New Mexico where the vestige of a fascinating pre-modern folk landscape persists into the present. The landscape in Chimayo has undergone significant restructuring in the present century--from colonial agricultural landscape to modern suburban townscape--yet an image of the traditional rural landscape remains. The complex modern economic and social forces (e.g., automobiles, telecommunications, tourism) which, early in this century, supplanted Chimayo's colonial subsistence agricultural economy has also restructured its landscape. This project has revealed that artifacts, spaces, and place images can persist in a changing rural landscape. Moreover, in the evolution of the vernacular landscape of Chimayo, New Mexico, the pre-modern folk landscape has been partially conserved, both physically and in myth, and persists as an integral part of the contemporary landscape.