Today, I’m reminiscing. One of my favorite places to visit is New Mexico – there is so much variety, history, and culture to see, and it’s not overrun with tourists. The photos I’m posting today were taken several years ago, using an older technology camera (Kodak DC4800) with a fixed lens that offered limited zoom capability.
Road to Acoma Pueblo
I shot these pictures in black and white – using a camera setting. Today I shoot all of my pictures normally, and then convert to black and white in post-processing if that’s the effect I wanted.
This first picture shows the desolation seen in many areas of New Mexico – flat plains punctuated by mesas. This road leads to Acoma Pueblo – also known as Sky City, which is a city built atop one of the mesas hundreds of years ago, and still in use today. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States.
Acoma Pueblo
Acoma Pueblo was built in the twelfth century by Native Americans, and was built atop a mesa so that it could be easily defended.
Until relatively recently, however, there was no road to get to the top of the mesa – inhabitants had to carry everything they consumed up the steep cliffs of the mesa.
Farming is done in the valley below the mesa, so daily life required a lot of trips up and down the sides of the mesa, aided by a stone staircase built into the side of the mesa.
San Esteban Rey
The Spanish invaded in the 1500s, killing most of the indigineous people of Acoma. A Spanish mission (San Esteban Rey) was built between 1629 and 1641. The roof of the mission is constructed with massive wood beams, which had to be carried from Mount Taylor Mountain – over 30 miles away – and then up the side of the mesa.
In front of the mission is a graveyard, which is still in use today. Since the mesa is largely rock, the Acoma people brought dirt up from the valley below in order to bury their dead.
Today, Acoma Pueblo is relatively easy to get to, since a road was built in 1929 by a Hollywood film crew. The Acoma people provide tours of the town, and there is a visitor center and museum with additional information. If you’re interested in learning more, you can visit the Acoma website by clicking here.
