In 1853, Major J.H. Carlton exploring the new addition to the United States from Mexico along the Rio Grande Valley in western New Mexico came across Abo of which he wrote, “The tall ruins standing there in solitude, had an aspect of sadness and gloom.” He recognized the ruins of a Christian church but didn’t realize the centuries of habitation of several cultures that had lived here.
Earlier this year, I posted images of the petroglyphs of the Jornada Mogollon who lived further east about 1,000 years ago. Some of them came to the Salinas Valley and joined with Ancestral Puebloans and forged a stable agricultural society with perhaps 10,000 people. The area became a major trade route between Mexico City and the Plains tribes in the east. By the 16th century, the Spanish colonizers took the route up from Mexico. The Spanish crown was disappointed in lack of riches they could exploit, so they gave permission to the Pope to let the Franciscans establish missions through the area. Today, Interstate 25 follows much of that route.
Next to church is a huge complex of structures where people lived, ate, stored food, and raised animals.
One mystery right near the church is a Kiva. Had this been a location of a Puebloan kiva, did the Franciscans build it to integrate the native’s beliefs with Christian ones, was it an effort to denigrate the native beliefs?
An arroyo runs through the area that provided water after monsoons and served as a quarry for the stones to build the structures.
The Franciscan mission lasted about fifty years, but by the 1670s the settlement was abandoned following Apache raids, Navajo revolts, and draught. The huge church and buildings that had been covered in plaster and paint began their deterioration.
A century and a half later, Spanish shepherds moved back near the ruins and built homes, fortifications and places for their animals. But these, too, were soon abandoned after attacks from the Apaches and added to the ruins when the American troops came into the area later in the century.
The Abo ruins are one of three sites for the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument established to preserve and remember this history.
One site, Gran Quivira had been established as a national monument in 1909, and the other two locations were incorporated in the expanded park in 1980. The third site Quarai has the largest remaining church structure. In this final image you can see the wooden beam put in place in 1626 to support the choir.
Quarai, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, New Mexico