My visits to New Mexico traced the state’s history from ancient pueblos to atomic history. The Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, built in 1610, is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States. Native American vendors still sell jewelry under its portal, a tradition dating back nearly a century. The building served as the seat of government for Spain, Mexico, and the United States across four centuries.
Los Alamos remains a city defined by its past. The visitor gate marks entry to what was once a secret city, known only as P.O. Box 1663 during World War II. The Oppenheimer House at 1967 Peach Street, where J. Robert Oppenheimer lived from 1943 to 1945, is a modest two-story home now restored to its 1940s appearance. Here the Manhattan Project’s scientific director hosted physicists who designed the atomic bomb while living in a town that didn’t officially exist.
Bandelier National Monument preserves 33,000 acres where Ancestral Puebloan people lived from 1150 to 1550 CE. They carved homes called cavates directly into volcanic tuff cliffs along Frijoles Canyon. The Canyon Rim Trail provides views across the canyon while the Main Loop Trail leads to these cliff dwellings, accessible by wooden ladders climbing 150 feet up the canyon wall. The site includes restored kivas and the ruins of a pueblo that once housed hundreds of people before they abandoned the canyon for unknown reasons.