Santa Fe - American Southwest - page 169

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east (toward the rising sun) and its ceiling formed in the interlocking “whirling log” style.
It was founded in 1937 by Boston scholar Mary Cabot Wheelwright, in collaboration
with a Navajo medicine man, Hastiin Klah, to preserve and document Navajo ritual
beliefs and practices. In 1976, the museum's focus was altered to include the living arts
of all Native American cultures. The museum offers three or four exhibits per year. You
may see a basketry exhibit, mixed-media Navajo toys, or amazing contemporary Navajo
rugs. An added treat here is the Case Trading Post, an arts-and-crafts shop built to
resemble the typical turn-of-the-20th-century trading post found on the Navajo reserva-
tion. Best of all here are the storytelling sessions given by Joe Hayes, scheduled in
July and August on Saturday and Sunday evenings at 7pm. Check the website for more
details.
704 Camino Lejo. & 800/607-4636 or 505/982-4636. Fax [phone]. www.wheelwright.org. Dona-
tions appreciated. Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; Sun 1-5pm. Closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas.
Drive southeast on Old Santa Fe Trail ( Note: Old Santa Fe Trail takes a left turn; if you find yourself on Old
Pecos Trail, you missed the turn). Look for signs pointing right onto Camino Lejo.
Churches
Loretto Chapel Museum Though no longer consecrated for worship, the
Loretto Chapel remains an important site in Santa Fe. Patterned after the famous Sainte-
Chapelle church in Paris, it was constructed in 1873—by the same French architects and
Italian masons who were building Archbishop Lamy's cathedral—as a chapel for the
Sisters of Loretto, who had established a school for young women in Santa Fe in 1852.
The chapel has an especially notable spiral staircase: It makes two complete 360-degree
turns, with no central or other visible support. The structure is steeped in legend. The
building was nearly finished in 1878, when workers realized the stairs to the choir loft
wouldn't fit. Hoping for a solution more attractive than a ladder, the sisters made a
novena (9-day prayer) to St. Joseph—and were rewarded when a mysterious carpenter
appeared astride a donkey and offered to build a staircase. Armed with only a saw, a
hammer, and a T-square, the master constructed this work of genius by soaking slats of
wood in tubs of water to curve them and holding them together with wooden pegs. Then
he disappeared without bothering to collect his fee.
207 Old Santa Fe Trail (btw. Alameda and Water sts.). & 505/982-0092. www.lorettochapel.com. Admis-
sion $2.50 adults, $2 children 7-12 and seniors 65 and over, free for children 6 and under. Mon-Sat 9am-
5pm; Sun 10:30am-5pm.
Mission of San Miguel If you really want to get the feel of colonial Catholicism,
visit this church. Better yet, attend Mass here. You won't be disappointed. Built in 1610,
the church has massive adobe walls, high windows, an elegant altar screen (erected in
1798), and a 780-pound San José bell (now found inside), which was cast in Spain in
1356. If that doesn't impress you, perhaps the buffalo-hide and deerskin Bible paintings
(used in 1630 by Franciscan missionaries to teach the Native Americans) will. Anthro-
pologists have excavated near the altar, down to the original floor that some claim to be
part of a 12th-century pueblo. A small store just off the sanctuary sells religious articles.
401 Old Santa Fe Trail (at E. de Vargas St.). & 505/983-3974. Admission $1 adults, free for children 6 and
under. Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; Sun 9am-4pm. Summer hours start earlier. Mass Sun 5pm.
Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe This church, built between
1776 and 1796 at the end of El Camino Real by Franciscan missionaries, is believed to
be the oldest shrine in the United States honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron
saint of Mexico. Better known as Santuario de Guadalupe, the shrine's adobe walls stand

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