Cornerstones Adobe Restoration and Preservation

Click here to see Earth USA 2013 Press Release (PDF)

Click here for the 2013 Summer Institute Poster (PDF)

Join Cornerstones and the Santa Fe Childrens Museum in celebrating Earth Day 2013!
Click here for the flier with full details (PDF)

Click here for the flier with full details (PDF)

Click here to view full details (PDF)

Click here to read the article from AAA (PDF)

use tools ~ get dirty ~ have fun! ~ no fees

January 6 - 11, 2013 at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ

Click here for the flier with full details (PDF)

Celebrate a year of partnerships, education, and hard work, as well as the architectural heritage and community traditions of New Mexico and the Southwest at the 12th annual ¡Noche Feliz! September 27, 2012
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On August 23-24, Program Director Jake Barrow attended a Washington D.C. NCPTT convened group of trades practitioners, educators, nonprofit and federal agency staff to discuss how we could work together to improve preservation trades training opportunities in the NPS and beyond. The inspiration for the meeting was a proposed action item in the draft NPS Cultural Resource Challenge: Develop a "traditional skills" program within the NPS to produce training and technical briefs to support the efforts of the public and private sector. Discussion focused on how to facilitate student awareness of and connections among existing programs, how to improve preservation trades training for the NPS, and what technical information is needed to support preservation trades work.


Program Director Jake Barrow travelled to Lima, Peru to present information about Cornerstones at the XIth International Conference on the Study and Conservation of Earthen Architecture Heritage. Following the conference, he headed to Chile to visit our good friends at Fundación Altiplano. Stay tuned for a slide presentation of Jake's travels.

Hotel St. Francis Partners with Cornerstones Community Parnerships in preserving the San Miguel Chapel Bell Tower
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Cornerstones is one of the Leadership Examples in the MetLife Foundation's journal "Partners for Livable Communities"

We were fortunate enough to have members of a church group from Wesleyan, Massachusetts come for the 2nd year to work at Santo Domingo Pueblo's Old Trading Post.



Here's some of their comments:

What I really like about this project is connecting these youth from back east with the southwest traditions of earthen architecture which is so different from what they are accustomed to. Aaron Kauffman - organizer

This is my second time back here and I really enjoy the assembly line process Jake and Antonio set up getting these adobes made. Its a good feeling being a part of the group and helping the Pueblo out getting the Trading post fixed. Peter Dixon

I was here last year and really liked it. For me its great to see this earth being used to make adobe. Its not like this soil is good for agriculture and so using the resource to build the building is great. I enjoy the hard work and us competing against the others to make more adobe than they did. Alexandra Keiser

We've been talking with Ricardo Cate from the community a lot and that has been interesting to learn about the Pueblo and how this Trading Post can be some kind of economic engine to help. I really think this is going to work out and eventually be a successful project. Its great to see a practical use for the local dirt and obviously its good stuff because the old adobe on the building has held up so well. Andrew Ridlaup

San Miguel Chapel was chosen as the "Angels Project" for the Architectural Specialty Group (ASG) attending the National Conference of The American Institute for Conservation (AIC) held in Albuquerque. The group came down for a fulfilling, educational and fun day of work on Tuesday May 8.



ASG comments:

Great hands on training! Everybody was able to take turns at every workstation and the process was all very well explained. Excellent session!

Great way to learn something new about a material I don't have a background in.

Learning from the experts and knowing the work is used for a real project. Thanks for sharing you knowledge, skills, and tradition! Also learning about the local culture and people.

I really enjoyed making bricks and plastering. The best thing is participating in all the steps of making and using plaster and mud brick so that we have a comprehensive understanding of the process.

Click here to view PDF of November 7, 2011 editorial

Jake Barrow presented "A Quarter of A Century And Beyond: Cornerstones Community Partnerships" - a paper discussing our role and history in earthern architecture and preservation at the Earth USA Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cornerstones was also able to provide scholarships in order for students to attend.

To Download a copy of Cornerstones 2010 Annual Report please click on the link below.

2010 Annual Report

San Miguel Chapel and Cornerstones were featured in an article on Cowboys and Indians on-line magazine. The article was written by Wolf Schneider and includes beautiful photographs of the Chapel in its early days. Keep checking the Cornerstones' webpage for more news about San Miguel. Visit Cowboys and Indians to read the article

Download our pdf of a press release announcing Cornerstones' designation as a Preserve America Steward.

Download our pdf of Cornerstones' Emergency Flood Mitigation Manual for Earthen Architecture.

Download our pdf of a press release announcing how Cornerstones' preservation work might reveal the mystery of whether the Tlaxcalatecan Indians built the San Miguel Chapel in Santa Fe.