Among the many places, archaeological sites, museums and all the other things I took people to visit, I want to write about homes, those who are now open to the public, sometimes throughout the year and sometimes on special occasions. They all have a lot in common: the signature of the people who lived there, not usual people for sure, an atmosphere that takes you back to the days those special people were going about their daily life, objects that reminds you of your own past life (unless you were born too late!!), and the emotion of being there, with them, for a few minutes.
Let me begin with Fork Lightning Ranch. It sits on the Pecos National Historical Park, east of Santa Fe. It is surrounded by an amazingly pristine scenery and it is beautifully preserved by the Park. It has been home to Greer Garson, a true diva at times and a real lady most of the time, and her husband Elijah E. “Buddy” Fogelson. They bought it in 1941. I'm not going to tell you the long and fascinating history of this ranch as I hope you will learn it when you go there for a visit. It was Tex Austin, entrepreneur and Rodeo Cowboy, who found the place and hired New Mexico's best known architect, John Gaw Meem, to build the house. Everything in the house is as it was when Greer Garson lived there: furniture, knick-knacks, upholstery, her desk with an ancient typewriter. This truly makes you smile and think "how could we possibly write with those archaic things?". Well, we did, also using carbon paper, yes! The courtyard is simple and charming. You can roam through the whole house, from the kitchen to the living room trying to imagine what was her life there. Here she entertained her Hollywood buddies as well as businessmen and politicians. But this house also changed her life. Her love for New Mexico gave us a theater and her elegant Santa Fe home.
Exterior and interiors of Fork Lightning Ranch
How can I not mention Georgia O'Keeffe that we consider "ours"! After all she spent almost 50 years here. In Abiquiu Village is an oasis surrounded by her orchard and garden. The house perfectly balances her love for simplicity with the sophisticated touches of the artist. The view over the Chama River is stunning, everything in the house is just perfectly arranged without any hint at her more mundane life in the big cities.
No photos here! Just the view framed by her corner window.
Let's move on and take a glimpse into the house of a modern art painter, Randall Davey, who -you've heard this sentence before- fell in love with New Mexico! His family left his home to be preserved as a Bird Sanctuary to the National Audubon Society, a place you have to visit when you are looking for peace, meditation and chirping.
It is full of things of his private and public life describing those years, his work which include the feminine nudes that made some puritan minds shake, social life and fine drinking. It is elegant and personal, the layout with a narrow staircase is perfect. And the birds are singing all around in the wilderness.
One of the homes I really love is in Taos, where Kit Carson and his wife Josepha lived and made tons of kids. It is for me the pure old New Mexico, simple, although pretty big for those times. The courtyard is where Josepha's daily life took place, cooking in the horno and minding the several children. He was often away doing his great things (read Blood and Thunder to get the picture). The house could be a perfect movie setting for a serious western movie. I can picture that rather short man, but strong like a bull, coming home to his large family, and probably every time contributing in making it even larger, and helping Josepha while getting the updates of the local whereabouts. Those days were quite agitated, to say the least. The West was being conquered!
There is another building, not exactly a home, but it feels like it. It's at the northern edge of Petrified Forest National Park, a jewel. Painted Desert Inn has a long history beginning in 1920 as a lodge and fifteen years later acquired by the National Park which with the help of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) created by F.D Roosevelt during the Great Depression, turned it into a totally different building, though with respect of the shapes dictated by the stone used for the construction. In 1940 the Fred Harvey Company started managing the property that was used by tourists who in those years were particularly attracted by Route 66. The war stopped everything but once it ended the lodge was once again renovated. And this time it was Mary Jane Colter, the fabulous lady who shaped the architectural style of tourism destinations. Her taste and her Hopi friend Fred Kabotie's frescoes are for all of us to enjoy. It is so perfect with the delicate pastel colors, furniture, and painted glasses that one can't refrain from being excited.
To round-out the beauty of the place you go out and marvel at the Painted Desert that is all around it.
Since this blog is not a tourists guide I'm not telling the full story of each place, which is incredibly fascinating, hoping that you will find the time one day to travel to those homes and enjoy them as much as I always do.
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