Yesterday we visited Los Luceros, a few miles northeast of Espanola, and on the Rio Grande. “Los Luceros history goes back almost a thousand years, with pottery found on the site dating to 1200, and made by Pueblo people. When New Mexico was claimed for Spain in 1598, an outpost was established on the same property, and an adobe house built by the Lucero de Goday family during that time. The land passed to various relatives and a chapel was constructed in 1779 that still exists, along with the 5700 square foot Casa Grande.
In the fall of 1923, Mary Cabot Wheelwright (yes, the same one that founded the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, and was featured in the book, Ladies of the Canyons) was staying with her friend Carol Pfaffle at the San Gabriel Ranch and went horseback riding with Carol. Carol and her husband bought Los Luceros and soon after sold the house, Casa Grande with 6 acres along the banks of the Rio Grande to Wheelwright. Casa Grande was renovated and Mary Cabot Wheelwright lived there until her death in 1958.” The property was willed to her friend and property manager, Maria Chabot, and was later purchased by cousins of Mary Wheelwright in 1998. The State of New Mexico now owned Los Luceros and has designated it as a State Historic Site. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Los Luceros was much more than we expected. We enjoyed walking around the property, picking mulberries off the trees along the path, going upstairs in the Casa Grande, and down to Rio Grande. We stopped briefly at the San Gabriel Ranch, now owned by New Mexico State University Sustainable Agriculture Science Center. I had no idea when I read Ladies of the Canyons of the impact those ladies made to the north central area of the state of New Mexico. It was an enjoyable read!
