Arroyo Seco, New Mexico

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Arroyo Seco

There are many folktales told in New Mexico about how some towns came to be. There are few, however, which can match the beauty of the tales surrounding the founding of the village of Arroyo Seco. Just 7 miles north of Taos, Arroyo Seco was begun when its people acquired rights to the lands under a grant made by Joaquín Codallos y Rabal, dated October 7, 1745. As a site, it was first recorded in a chronicle dated 1716. It was deeded at that time to General Lucero de Godoy by the Viceroy of Mexico. He never bothered to settle on the land.

Settlement of the area began in 1804 when two brothers named Cristóbal Martínez and José Gregorio Martínez from Río Arriba County planted crops there before building their houses in 1806. According to the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, general land use began in 1815 when more people began to cultivate the lands which they irrigated from the Arroyo Seco Creek and the Río Lucero. By 1824 there was already an Hispanic community living there. Original settlement had began much closer to the mountain than where the present day village site is. The old "arroyo seco" itself was a gully stemming off El Salto Mountain. It was called "el Arroyo de la Luvia" (The Arroyo of Run-Off Water).

From its founding in 1806 to 2006 this belovèd village has seen much and it is celebrating its bicentennial anniversary this year. Of course, the area where the Martínez brothers first put down roots is nearer to the holy mountain of El Salto. It is so named for seven falls of water which cascade down and baptize the mountain and the valley below at different points. The site is still marked by the ruins of three torreones or turrets where the families would take refuge from the nomadic Indian tribes that criss-crossed the area.

Text by Larry Torres

Arroyo Seco
Arroyo Seco, NM 87514
Phone (505) 776-5183
www.visitseco.com