Las Golondrinas - By Mike Horrell (Santa Fe, El Rancho: houses, organic, living)

[Mike Horrell]

Hi, all,

Las Golondrinas (The Swallows) is a 300 year-old ranch on the outskirts of
Santa Fe that has been converted into a "Living History" museum by its
owners. We'd wanted to go there for a long time and finally got there today.

Unlike many similar establishments, Las Golondrinas does not try to capture
a single era, but rather preserves buildings and objects of historical significance
from across New Mexico. Some of the older log cabins are now extremely rare
and if they had not been moved to the ranch, they’d have been lost forever.

El Rancho de las Golondrinas - a Spanish Colonial Living History Museum in Santa Fe

The reason we finally got out there was that this weekend was a fiber / weaving
event called "Dances with Wool".. (groan..) and a friend of Debbie's had a booth
there selling hand-died wool. In addition, the museum had a display of locally
woven 18th century serapes that we thought was spectacular. I'd told Debbie that
there was a HUGE difference between modern replicas and the originals and,
for the first time, Debbie had a chance to see what I meant close up. The organic
dies on these are still completely color fast 150 years after they were woven..

Here area couple pics from the outing..

PictureTrail: Online Photo Sharing, Social Network, Image Hosting, Online Photo Albums

[GregW]

Dang! another place on my "must see" list.

[jaxart]

Originally Posted by GregW

Dang! another place on my "must see" list.

Ditto! Looks like a good place to visit in the fall when it's a bit cooler since it apparently requires a lot of walking to fully see the property.

I have to wonder how the people who built these dugout houses kept out the rain water when those heavy thunderstorms occurred, to say nothing of snow melt in winter time?

[Poncho_NM]

Thanks for the post Mike.

Definitely worth a visit whenever they are open, also they have a good variety of events worth seeing.

Some other threads with photos:

El Rancho De Las Golondrinas - By ziaAirmac
El Rancho de las Golondrinas - By Poncho_NM

Rich

[Cathy4017]

Great pics, Mike...thanks for sharing.

Like Jax, I'll wait until it cools off before visiting!

[Mike Horrell]

Originally Posted by jaxart

I have to wonder how the people who built these dugout houses kept out the rain water when those heavy thunderstorms occurred, to say nothing of snow melt in winter time?

I'd assume that they'd build on a bit of ground that was higher than the immediate
surroundings. The "sod busters", Vikings, modern econutz and others build houses
that were / are partially buried to retain heat in winter and avoid heat in summer.

Definitely not my style...

[RamblinRoseRanch]

We love Golondrinas! We spent at least one day a month there. Those of you with children don't want to miss the children's festival in early June. We always had a full, fun day with every visit.

[nmguy]

There's something about Las Golondrinas that soothes the soul. Whenever we go there, I meander over to the Santa Fe (?) River and ponder life's meaning.
Paul

Picasa Web Albums - pconleynm - nm pics

[ziaAirmac]

This weekend is the Santa Fe Wine Festival at Golondrinas. A great weekend to see the ranch in full swing and sample live music and wonderful local wine. I've got a post with pics and links in the Santa Fe forum if you're interested.

[Mike Horrell]

Hi, Zia! Too long, no talk... I keep on meaning to stop by your shop, but keep on
being diverted.

Here's a link to Zia's post on the Santa Fe forum..

Santa Fe Wine Festival 2010