Cornerstones Wins Awards for Historic Preservation Month!
As we begin Historic Preservation Month this May, we are honored to announce that Cornerstones Community Partnerships is the recipient of two Heritage Preservation Awards. Please join us in celebrating our community and accomplishments by attending either of the award ceremonies listed below, or by joining us for one of our upcoming Adobe Downtown events!
Cornerstones Receives Recognition for Preservation Projects
2024 Santa Fe Heritage Preservation Award
Cornerstones Community Partnerships will receive an award from the City of Santa Fe for our solar installation and preservation accomplishments at the historic San Miguel Chapel.
Please join us for the awards ceremony taking place this Thursday, May 9th at 5:30 at the San Miguel Chapel. A post-awards reception will follow.
2024 New Mexico Heritage Preservation Award
In 2019, the National Park Service designated a tiny, 2-room adobe ‘ruin’ as an American Treasure. This structure, recognized as the Desiderio y Pablita Ortega Casita, is an 18th century historic residence on the National Register of Historic Places in Plaza del Cerro, Chimayó, New Mexico. The casita has sustained nearly 60 years of weathering and deterioration, making it unsafe, unstable, and unlivable. In the Fall of 2019, Cornerstones Community Partnerships was awarded the Save America’s Treasures Grant to restore and adapt the ruin, which is a tremendous step towards bringing the Plaza back to life.
The completion of this project has transformed the Casita, which was in a “ruin” state (collapsed roof, structurally unstable walls, tree invasion, etc.), into a livable property, and will be used by the community as a demonstration of how to restore and preserve surrounding historic structures.
Cornerstones is honored to be awarded the 2024 New Mexico Heritage Preservation award for our completion of the Desiderio y Pablita Ortega Casita. All project partners will jointly accept this award. Jake Barrow will accept on behalf of Cornerstones, Mateo Peixinho on behalf of Avanyu General Contracting, Catharine Martinez Berryhill on behalf of the Berryhill Family, and Don Usner on behalf of the Chimayo Cultural Preservation Association.
An award ceremony will take place Friday, May 17th at 1pm in the Historic Meem Hall, Laboratory of Anthropology. A reception will follow at the Museum of International Folk Art.
Volunteer Spotlight!
In celebration of National Volunteer Month in April, we made a call to our volunteers to share their favorite experiences volunteering with Cornerstones. We are so grateful to our volunteers for their willingness to donate their time and service. Your support not only helps Cornerstones, but our entire community. Thank you!
“I’m a visual artist who makes work about layered histories within architecture. I came to New Mexico for an artist residency and was incredibly fortunate to connect with Cornerstones within the first week of my arrival.
Through hands on labor, I learned the history of adobe, sifted soil and sand, mixed mud plaster that was then hoisted via pulley(!) to the roof of San Miguel Chapel, and finally applied to the caps of the adobe walls. I was SO tired that week, my body sore but invigorated.
I was most struck by the commitment and dedication of the staff who return annually to ‘replenish’ multiple sites across NM. The cyclical labor of adobe restoration brought to the forefront our interconnectedness with the land and the importance of our stewardship. This not only shaped the lens through which I understood the built environment, but the hearts of the people who live there.
Working with Cornerstones left a lasting impression on me that has shifted my perspective and seeped into my art practice. Special thank you to Don and Kateri for their patience in teaching and creating an all-around good natured welcoming environment.”
– Carlie Trosclair, San Miguel Chapel
Photos By Carlie Trosclair
“I have been volunteering with Cornerstones since September 2021 with my first experience at the Providence Mine in the Mojave Preserve working with Alan Ash as the lead mason. This experience allowed me to meet and work with the Mojave National Preserve VIP Coordinators and Rangers.
My next Cornerstones project was south of Santa Fe, NM, working on the Rael Ranch Acequias where we cleaned and rebuilt the irrigation ditch. And finally in January 2024 I worked on an adobe wall restoration project in Death Valley, CA.
My experience with Cornerstone is priceless while making new friends along the way. Thank you to Cornerstone staff and friends--Jake, Issac, Kateri, Alan, Pete, Ernesto, just to name a few.”
-Joe Burton, Rael Ranch Acequia, Mojave Preserve, Death Valley, CA
Photos by Joe Burton
“Working with Cornerstones was such a rewarding learning experience. Log Cabin Preservation was completely new to me, but the workshop with Kateri, Al, and Randy was just so fascinating. Being a small part in helping preserve a place with that much history felt big to me and I hope to do it again!” – Chloe Harrison, Montezuma Well Smokehouse
Photos by Chloe Harrison
Wellesley Village Church Youth Group
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Wellesley Village Church Youth Group for volunteering with Cornerstones each spring. Each year during the students’ spring break, the Youth Group travels from Massachusetts to join Cornerstones in various preservation efforts. Throughout the years, Wellesley has volunteered on projects such restoration of the Santo Domingo Trading Post, making adobe bricks for multiple projects, acequia cleaning in Chimayo, and preservation projects for the Desiderio y Pablita Ortega Casita in Plaza del Cerro. During this year’s adobe making in Plaza del Cerro, a number of students expressed how rewarding it was to have contributed to the restoration of a historic building and to see its progress each Spring.
Thank you, Wellesley Village Church Volunteers!
Photos by Kateri Lopez
Zuni Earth Day
In April, Cornerstones’ Program Director, Jake Barrow, joined members of Zuni Pueblo for their 2024 Earth Day Celebration. This year’s celebration focused on engaging members in a dialogue on climate resilience while honoring Zuni’s rich ecological heritage. This was an opportunity for meaningful conversations to take place surrounding community efforts to become more resilient to climate change.
Jake Barrow represented Cornerstones and shared with attendees information about the San Miguel Solar Project and the preservation of historic landscapes.
IAIA Adobe Making
Cornerstones recently led a series of workshops at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). These workshops engaged students in the IAIA Ceramics Program on adobe making, material studies, and the construction of a banco.
Photos by Daisy Quezada
Luna Model Home Corners
Photo by Jake Barrow
Corners have been established for the Model Adobe Home on the Luna Community College Campus in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The construction of this model home is a community’s alternative, low-cost, and culturally appropriate housing solution for the Southwest on the heels of gentrification and devastating forest fires in Mora and San Miguel Counties, New Mexico (Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak), a federally designated National Disaster Area.
The proposed project is a partnership between Cornerstones Community Partnerships, Luna Community College, the Las Vegas Citizens Committee for Historic Preservation, and the Luna Community College Foundation.
The goal of this project is to demonstrate and construct a ca. 800 square-foot, code compliant, fire-resistant adobe home, which will include both passive and active solar. These efforts will involve the public, students, and professionals in making adobes and learning about traditional adobe building techniques. This proposed model home has great potential be a “hands-on” learning demonstration site for the new Heritage Trade Program being developed at Luna Community College in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Upcoming Events
PRESERVATION AWARD CEREMONIES
Santa Fe Heritage Preservation Awards
When: Thursday, May 9th at 5:30pm
Where: San Miguel Chapel, 401 Old Santa Fe Trail
Post-Awards Reception: Historic Santa Fe Foundation, El Zaguan, 545 Canyon Road
2024 New Mexico Heritage Preservation Awards
When: Friday, May 17th at 1pm
Where: Historic Meem Hall, Laboratory of Anthropology, 708 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM
Reception: Museum of International Folk Art Atrium
ADOBE DOWNTOWN
Our annual Adobe Downtown events are coming up this month! Adobe Downtown will be a free event where the public will learn to make bricks and about New Mexico’s cherished building practices.