The Value of Stories
Most residents of and visitors to New Mexico know Chimayo for the Santuario. There’s another part of this village with a significant history: Plaza del Cerro, believed to be the last surviving fortified plaza in the United States. It survives, but Plaza del Cerro is also very endangered. Fortunately, Cornerstones received a Save America’s Treasures grant to preserve part of the plaza.
Our files on Plaza del Cerro contain an extensive and fascinating research report by Don Usner, “The Plaza del Cerro in Chimayo: Settlement and Function.” His methodology immediately caught my interest as he sets out to “unravel the historic and social patterns of the Plaza using a previously untapped resource – the memories of long-time residents.” Usner interviewed 18 people with “first hand knowledge of the Plaza” between 1900 and the early 1990s.
These oral histories provide a rich sense of what life was like on the plaza during the first half of the 20th century. Usner literally maps the interconnected lives of the three main families: the Ortegas, Trujillos and Martinezes. He describes the crops grown in the area and the items available in the Victor Ortega’s General Store, “since they knew it as children, many Chimayosos remember best the candy on sale.” Interviewees described the festivities of the annual Mes de Maria during which a “walk began at the Oratorio and proceeded counterclockwise around the Plaza. Periodically, the resadoras stopped to pray and the flower girls sprinkled them with the rose petals they had gathered before the ceremony.”
I encourage you to read this earlier post on Cornerstones website. You will find a brief history of the establishment of the Plaza del Cerro and the restoration of Casita de Martina in 2017 at Casita de Martina, Plaza del Cerro, Chimayo, New Mexico. There’s a note at the end that planning was underway to complete the earthen floor. I am happy to report that we completed that part of the project too.
The Save America’s Treasures grant enables Cornerstones to bring awareness and demonstrate the potential of usability of the plaza houses, particularly the small ones. This is a complex project that we see as a long relationship with community. There are approximately 30 separately deeded properties in the plaza with 23 owners.
Usner’s report is available as a book Sabino's Map: Life in Chimayó's Old Plaza. If you love oral histories or the history of New Mexico, it is worth locating a copy. Usner did critical work documenting these stories to preserve them for the future. The stories make the work to restore the physical environment of the Plaza del Cerro all the more important and tangible.
Tracey Enright
Executive Director
Cornerstones Community Partnerships
March 8, 2021