Bernalillo

The town keeps a promise dated to the Pueblo Revolt. On August 10, 1680, San Lorenzo's feast day, the revolt began; Bernalillo's tradition holds that neighbors at Santa Ana and Sandia warned the Spanish settlers, who fled south to El Realito de San Lorenzo, now part of El Paso. There they learned the Matachines dance, and in 1693 they brought it home with a promesa to honor the saint. The danzantes have kept it every August since; today they carry his image between the 1857 Santuario de San Lorenzo and Our Lady of Sorrows.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Bernalillo Archaeological research indicates that this fertile valley has been the focus of human occupation for at least 10,000 years. Soon after the Spanish colonized New Mexico in 1598, a series of estancias, or farming and ranching communities, flanked the Camino Real along this section of the Rio Grande. These settlements formed the basis of present- day Bernalillo, which was well established by the close of the 17th century.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Petroglyph National Monument — 15 mi
  Some 24,000 images pecked into the dark basalt of Albuquerque's West Mesa, protected in 1990 and then crossed by a city boulevard.

More markers nearby

• Women Veterans of New Mexico — 1.9 mi
• Spanish Entrada Site — 2.0 mi
• Dulcelina Salce Curtis (1904-1995) — 3.6 mi
• Bernalillo — 4.1 mi