Santa Cruz de la Cañada / Santa Cruz Plaza on the Camino Real

The panel's one line on 1837 began and ended in this plaza. Governor Albino Pérez dissolved the town council in December 1836 and jailed its alcalde, Juan José Esquibel, in July 1837; rebels gathered here on August 1, and within the week Pérez was dead and José Gonzales, a genízaro of Taos Pueblo and Pawnee descent by most accounts, held the governor's palace. In January 1838 Manuel Armijo beat the rebels near Pojoaque, executed Esquibel and three others, and had Gonzales put to death in the square.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Santa Cruz de la Cañada In 1695, Governor Diego de Vargas founded his first town, Santa Cruz de la Cañada, designed to pro- tect the Spanish frontier north of Santa Fe. The church, which still stands, was constructed in the 1730s. In 1837, residents re- volted against Mexican authorities, resulting in the death of Governor Albino Pérez. Official Scenic Historic Marker Santa Cruz Plaza On the Camino Real In 1695 Governor Diego de Vargas founded Santa Cruz de la Cañada south of the Santa Cruz River. The town was later moved to this site north of the river. The church facing the plaza dates from the 1730s. Santa Cruz was an impor- tant stop on the Camino Real between Santa Fe and Taos.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• El Santuario de Chimayó — 6.5 mi
  A small adobe shrine on the High Road to Taos, built around 1816 over earth that pilgrims still carry away in hope of healing.
• Fuller Lodge — 16 mi
  The upright-log dining hall of a boys' ranch school, which fed and housed the Manhattan Project after the Army bought the school in 1942.
• Bandelier National Monument — 19 mi
  Rooms carved into soft volcanic tuff in Frijoles Canyon, named for a Swiss scholar who was led there in 1880 by a man from Cochiti Pueblo.
• Palace of the Governors — 22 mi
  The long adobe on the north side of the Santa Fe plaza, called the oldest public building in continuous use in the country, though its own founding date is in dispute.

More markers nearby

• The St. Francis Women's Club — 7.0 mi
• Feliciana Tapia Viarrial (1904-1988) — 7.8 mi
• Jémez Mountains — 7.9 mi
• Doña Margarita Martín — 8.3 mi