Kit Carson Home & Museum - Taos, New Mexico - Preserved Home of a Southwest Legend

Kit Carson's single-story adobe house in Taos is believed to have been constructed in 1825. He bought it for his wife, Maria Josefa Jaramillo, in 1843. The Carsons raised their eight children here, and their home served as a base of operations for the mountain man's famous career, which included work as a guide, soldier, trapper, military scout, rancher, Indian agent, and Brother of the Masonic Order.

Indeed, it was the efforts of Masonic Bent Lodge #42 that preserved the Carson House in the early 20th century when it was falling into disrepair. The Lodge later restored and expanded the property for operation as a museum. Today, the Kit Carson Home & Museum shows through its furnishings and exhibits, what life was like in the pre-Civil War Southwest.

The Home & Museum consists of Kit Carson's original three-room adobe house, which features 21 vigas, the heavy logs supporting the roof. It also includes the neighboring Romero House, which Carson and his wife owned in the mid-19th century. The two structures were connected by a concrete-block passage in 1952. Portals facing the courtyard were also added to both buildings in 1958.

The Kit Carson Home & Museum is located at 113 Kit Carson Road, Taos, New Mexico 87571. It features a small gift shop, which is noted for its selection of Southwest art and variety of history books.