Santa Fe: Walking Through Time with New Mexico Friends of History

This article is also featured on GPSmyCity. To download this article for offline reading or create a self-guided walking tour to visit the attractions highlighted in this article, go to Walking Tours and Articles in Santa Fe.

Santa Fe is nicknamed The City Different. City officials chose this nickname to differentiate this Southwestern town from the “City Beautiful” movement inaugurated after the World’s Fair in 1893.

The fair’s neoclassical “White City” showcased an idealized urban environment that many saw as a stark contrast to the industrial cities of the time. 

But Santa Fe blends native American, colonial Spanish, and Anglo cultures. This is reflected in its distinctive Pueblo and Spanish Territorial architecture. City officials chose to preserve and codify its historical architecture rather than modernize it. This led to ordinances mandating the adobe-style buildings, which set Santa Fe apart from other American cities. 

New Mexico Friends of History Walking Tour

Santa Fe is a city that invites slow wandering—clay-colored walls, crooked streets, a scent of piñon on the breeze. On a recent trip, I joined the New Mexico Friends of History for their two-hour walking tour of Santa Fe. An adult ticket costs $30. A youth ticket (age 8-17) costs $20. Children under age 7 are free.

The walking tour is a compact journey, but each stop opens a door into a different century. The guides are volunteers, but don’t let that fool you—they are experts who love this city fiercely.

The guides complete a rigorous training program conducted by tour manager Scott Green, a longtime museum, tour, education, and National Park professional, and by Michael Ettema, a former museum director and curator, and current art appraisal expert. “Some of our established volunteers help with, and bring their expertise to, our training, including a renowned TV writer who helps guide the all-important craft of storytelling,” explained Green.

“Though tour parameters are set, our volunteer guides can mold their delivery of the stories we tell. Each brings a unique passion to conducting Walking Tours of Historic Downtown Santa Fe and for each it is a labor of love!”—Scott Green, Tour Manager, New Mexico Friends of History

My guide was Marlene Jackson. “Our tours focus on the diversity and intermixing of cultures throughout the history of Santa Fe, and that is conveyed by way of engaging storytelling,” said Jackson.

Here are the highlights of what we explored together.

New Mexico History Museum

The tour begins at the New Mexico History Museum, which features a modern adobe exterior. Sandstone-hued stucco, deep-set windows, and wooden vigas project from the walls. This echoes the Pueblo and Spanish Colonial architectural styles that have given Santa Fe its timeless aesthetic.

The museum physically connects to the 17th-century Palace of the Governors, blending new construction with the oldest public building in continuous use in the U.S. It’s a perfect architectural metaphor for Santa Fe itself.

New Mexico Museum of Art

Just a few steps away stands the New Mexico Museum of Art, an iconic example of Pueblo Revival architecture. It was completed in 1917. The building’s rounded corners, hand-carved corbels, battered adobe walls, and flat roofs were modeled after the nearby mission churches.

The museum’s Pueblo Revival design helped define the architectural identity of the entire city.

Santa Fe Plaza

The Plaza is a historic square marking the western terminus of the historic Santa Fe Trail. It stretched roughly 900 miles from Missouri to New Mexico. The “end of the Santa Fe Trail rock” is a granite monument in the Santa Fe Plaza. The Daughters of the American Revolution erected it in 1910.

For traders in the 19th century, this dusty patch of earth signaled triumph after months of treacherous travel. Long before American traders arrived, however, the area served as a gathering place for Indigenous communities. Today, it remains a vibrant cultural crossroads where festivals, musicians, and locals converge beneath the shade of cottonwoods.

I was particularly charmed by the “Spitz Clock,” located on the corner near Santa Fe Plaza. This giant pocket watch sits on an ornate post; it has been a landmark for over a century. 

Santa Fe Artists Market

The non-profit Santa Fe Artists Market is located along the Palace of the Governors portal. It is one of the most meaningful cultural spaces in the city. Here, artists represent their own work directly—no galleries, no middlemen—continuing a tradition begun in the 1930s.

Jewelry, pottery, carvings, and textiles sit carefully arranged on blankets. Each piece is rooted in family lineage, tribal symbolism, and regional craft. I stopped to examine the jewelry of several merchants before purchasing a lapis lazuli sterling silver ring.

Palace of the Governors

Built in 1610, the Palace of the Governors is a testament to Santa Fe’s layered history. Once a seat of colonial rule, later a territorial capital, it is now a museum. Its low, thick adobe walls and wooden portico exemplify Spanish Pueblo architecture.

Walking along its length, I can sense its age in the uneven roofline and sun-bleached façade. Few buildings in America have witnessed so many cultural shifts—from Pueblo revolts to frontier trade to statehood. (The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was a revolution against Spanish religious, economic, and political institutions imposed upon the Pueblos.)

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Around the corner lies an unassuming doorway at 109 East Palace. It served as the administrative gateway to the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos site.

Scientists, military officers, and their families all passed through this small office before vanishing into the mountains under strict secrecy. The site’s understated plaque gives no hint of the seismic scientific developments once coordinated here.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi rises in dramatic contrast to surrounding adobe structures. Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy commissioned the French Romanesque Revival-style cathedral. It was built between 1869 and 1886.

Rounded arches, Corinthian columns, imported Italian stone, and stained-glass windows create a European silhouette in the heart of the Southwest. The cathedral serves as a reminder of Santa Fe’s multicultural spiritual heritage. It was built on the site of earlier churches dating back to the early 1600s.

The statue of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha stands in front of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. She is the first Native American saint.

Cathedral Park

Across from the cathedral is Cathedral Park, a tree-filled retreat where locals walk their dogs or read on shaded benches. The park’s fountain features bronze figurines of livestock, such as horses, sheep, and cattle.

Loretto Chapel

A few blocks away, the Loretto Chapel is home to the legendary “miraculous staircase.” Built in 1878, the chapel’s interior resembles a miniature Gothic cathedral, complete with lancet windows and pointed arches.

The spiral staircase was constructed without nails, central support, or visible means of structural reinforcement. Its builder, a mysterious carpenter whose identity was never confirmed, has fueled more than a century of lore.

San Miguel Chapel

Down the road, our group came across San Miguel Chapel, built in the early 17th century. It is often regarded as the oldest church structure in the United States. The church features thick adobe walls, hand-carved wooden beams (vigas), and a rectangular (mission-style) design. The chapel’s style merges traditional Pueblo building techniques blended with Spanish colonial influences.

La Fonda on the Plaza

Continuing the loop back toward the Plaza, the tour pauses at La Fonda on the Plaza. This historic hotel’s roots stretch to the 17th century. The current structure, completed in 1922, replaced the earlier Exchange Hotel. Weary travelers ended their journey along the Santa Fe Trail at this inn.

Its Pueblo Revival style, folk-art interiors, and historic photographs make it a living museum as well as a luxury hotel. (Click this link to take a virtual stroll through the lobby on my Instagram account.)

La Fonda offers a docent-led art and history tour of the hotel (Wednesday through Saturday). You will learn about Fred Harvey and the Harvey girls, the architecture, and the art collection in the lobby.

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

Nearby, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum celebrates this modernist painter whose relationship with New Mexico reshaped American art. (Click this link to see examples of O’Keeffe’s paintings on my Instagram page.)

Beyond showcasing her paintings of abstract flowers and bold desert landscapes, the museum highlights O’Keeffe’s photographs and personal letters. It’s a pilgrimage spot for art lovers and solo travelers alike.

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

A deeper dive into Indigenous history awaits at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. This is one of the region’s most important custodians of Native American heritage. Its collections span centuries—pottery, textiles, jewelry, ceremonial objects—representing tribes from across the Southwest.

Exhibits emphasize living cultures rather than static history, celebrating the resilience, innovation, and artistry of Native peoples in New Mexico.

New Mexico State Capitol

The New Mexico State Capitol, affectionately known as “the Roundhouse,” immediately surprised me with its soft curves and Pueblo-influenced geometry. The Zia sun symbol is the inspiration for its circular footprint.

Stucco walls in desert hues, recessed vigas, and a central rotunda give it a more cultural center feel. Walking up the broad steps, you sense that New Mexico wanted a Capitol building that reflects its culture.

Inside, the Roundhouse transforms into an art museum. The Capitol Art Collection spans every hallway and level, transforming a civic space into an immersive art gallery. You will see more than 600 works, ranging from textile art and carvings to contemporary Indigenous painting, photography, and sculpture. They tell stories from every corner of the state. Best of all, it’s free to wander. (Click this link to take a virtual tour of the building on my YouTube channel.)

Fort Marcy

I recommend taking this historic walking tour on your first day in Santa Fe. You can then buy tickets to visit the individual museums and art galleries that you saw.

If time permits, consider hiking out to Fort Marcy to see Santa Fe’s buildings. If you are staying in the historic centre, the walk will take you about 30 minutes.

Prince Park

I visited at sunset. Climb the circular walk up the steep hill to reach Prince Park at Fort Marcy. The remnants of the 19th-century military fort surround the grassy expanse. The fort reminds visitors of Santa Fe’s pivotal role in the history of the frontier. As the sun dips behind the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the city shifts from earthy browns to rosy pinks.

Chile Wreaths

I hope as you meander down the streets and alleys of Santa Fe that you see the chili wreaths. Besides their practical use for drying chili peppers, they are also a cultural symbol. These ristras represent good luck, good health, and a celebration of the chili harvest.

Postscript

Be sure to leave time to visit Canyon Road, which is Santa Fe’s famous art gallery trail. You can dart in two art galleries near the Cathedral, or you can spend an afternoon visiting dozens of venues.