2 | Leyendas
Courtesy Carrie Leven
This arborglyph is a little difficult to read, but it appears to be from a Manuel Silva Jr., from El Rito, back in 1945. See page 11 for the story .
Come explore
the Leyendas of Taos
W
ith more than 1,000 years of human activity in Taos County, the only challenge we have filling Leyendas, the first in our yearly four-part publication known as Tradiciones, is narrowing down
the list of story ideas. The term "legends" can take on more than a few meanings, which only makes it more difficult to choose which stories we want to explore each year. Pure legends are, "stories from the past that are believed by many people but cannot be proved true," according to Merriam-Webster. Such stories include ones like Jim O'Donnell's search for a bar from his past on page 14. Along the way, O'Donnell ran into even more mystery and nostalgia, with stories of bars that could not be verified and tales of ghosts that haunt these old Taos buildings. The history of the tunnels underneath the town's historic district is also a tough nut to crack. Teresa Dovalpage went in search of these underground passages only to find out that not many folks are willing to discuss them. Is it because they themselves don't know much
about the issue at hand, or is there a deeper secret to the story that nobody is talking about? Find out on page 4. People can become legendary as well, either for good or bad deeds. Arthur Manby certainly falls into the latter category, as a notorious con-man and land thief. It ultimately cost him his head, and they wouldn't even bury him inside the gates at Kit Carson Cemetery. That said, his legacy is alive and well at Manby Hot Springs — a refuge for the one-time chief scoundrel of Taos, and for countless others since. Check out Andy Dennison's story about the springs on page 10. Andrew Oxford explores a group of people, so to speak, who through their legendary deeds in life, have made Sierra Vista Cemetery a legendary last resting place. Once neglected and somewhat forgotten, recent efforts have made Sierra Vista a place to pay respects to some of Taos' greatest artists and icons. See page 8 for the story. Certain events can also take on legendary status, like the famous softball games that were played in the 1960s between the Hog Farm commune of hippies and the residents of Picuris Pueblo. Phaedra Greenwood was there, and she brings us the story on page 6. What she didn't know was that the games have continued for years,
with both groups ultimately turning "legit" and joining Taos' recreational softball league. And finally, here in Taos, everyone knows about our legendary landscape. What a lot of people don't know is that there was a time when some folks, surveyors included, considered our southern sentinel, Jicarita Peak, the tallest mountain in the state. We all know, however, that the tallest peak is to the north of Taos, Wheeler Peak. Cody Hooks takes a look at the shared history of the two mountains on page 16. And Andrew Oxford explores our landscape in more detail with a story about arborglyphs — aka tree carvings — on page 11. As it turns out, those messages from the past can tell us a lot about the history of our region. What's truly exciting about Leyendas as a publication for us at The Taos News is the way these stories germinate from a seedling of an idea, maybe just a rumor or myth, into something more tangible. Just as Greenwood was surprised to learn that those softball games continue, each story is full of surprises and lessons about who we are in Taos County, a place as legendary as they come. — Andy Jones, special sections editor