The St. Francis Women's Club

The church the women rebuilt had a long line of failures behind it. Governor Juan Domingo de Bustamante paid for a church here in 1725; it eventually caved in, and the plain adobe of 1910 that replaced it was condemned and pulled down about 1960, leaving Nambé without a church of its own. The club's first ceremonial was held on July 4, 1961, with posole, chile stews and bread, and the event later moved to Nambé Falls. The bell from the 1725 church hangs above the new door.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker The St. Francis Women's Club Nambe Pueblo The St. Francis Women's Club was instrumental in raising funds to rebuild San Francisco de Asís Church, which had been condemned and demolished in about 1960. Their main fundraiser was the annual Fourth of July ceremonial, featuring dances of Nambe and participating Pueblos. By 1974, the group raised enough money to rebuild the church, and, in the process, helped to renew cultural traditions at Nambe. Official Scenic Historic Marker New Mexico Historic Women Marker Initiative The New Mexico Historic Women Marker Initiative was founded in 2005 by members of the New Mexico Women's Forum in a statewide effort to recognize women's contributions to New Mexico history on the state's Official Scenic Historic Markers. The Initiative ensures that women's diverse histories will be remembered and told, and will inspire and provide a guide for future generations. The 2006 Legislature funded the project.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• El Santuario de Chimayó — 6.9 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.
• Palace of the Governors — 15 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.
• Fuller Lodge — 18 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.

More markers nearby

• Feliciana Tapia Viarrial (1904-1988) — 2.8 mi
• Tesuque Rain Gods — 5.7 mi
• Pueblo of Tesuque — 5.7 mi
• Santa Cruz de la Cañada / Santa Cruz Plaza on the Camino Real — 7.0 mi