Thanks to a federal grant, the staff at Los Luceros Historic Site will have the chance to increase the public’s access to previously closed areas of the property and delve deeper into the site’s untold narratives.
The site team was awarded a $450,000 “Save America’s Treasures” grant by the National Park Service, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities for the preservation and stabilization of the hacienda and the adjacent storehouse.
That grant was matched by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and the State of New Mexico, and the work will total $1.1 million.
To execute their goals, the team at Los Luceros wants to hire as many local contractors and experts as possible, so that the money from the grant stays within the local economy, said site manager and archaeologist Ethan Ortega.
In both buildings, the staff plans to preserve the interior and exterior plaster, which is currently a mix of adobe and concrete, he said.
That mix causes trouble, because the adobe sucks up moisture, while the concrete traps it, which can lead to structural instability, he said.
The work will be also include restoring the windows and doors of the buildings, according to a Sept. 2 New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs press release.
In the hacienda, the plan is also to conserve fireplace murals and stabilize the wraparound balcony, to allow visitors access onto it.
“It really just gives such a neat perspective, because you’re way up off the ground, and you can see the mesa, you can see the fields and the orchards and down to the river, so it’ll be a great place to share the site’s history from,” Ortega said about the balcony.
Access is a key goal of the work on the storehouse, too. That work will involve replacing the floor and roof.
Over the years, the building was used for apple and coal storage and the residence, housed one of the first electric generators in Rio Arriba County, and eventually became Mary Wheelwright’s garage, Ortega said.
It has not historically been open to the public, but the efforts made possible by the grant will allow site attendees to visit the space.
Ortega said he hopes to use the building to educate visitors about residents of Los Luceros who have traditionally been left out of the limelight––the working class northern New Mexico families who took care of the place.
“It tells the story of the real norteños that were here, not Mary Wheelwright who would come and vacation for a month,” he said. “It tells the stories of the people that were living here every day during the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40s and maintained the property. We’ll use that space to explore a lot more of the local ranch hands and local families that were taking care of the property for Mary Wheelwright.”
During the pandemic, though the site has been closed to visitors, the staff has been working to make Los Luceros more accessible in other ways as well, smoothing out uneven walkways so people with limited mobility will be able to navigate them and developing new trails throughout the nature on the property.
A big tree trimming project, which will remove invasive species for the sake of habitat restoration, is also about to begin.
And the staff has also found ways to get around the closures for community events––this year, an interactive webpage, with videos and printable activities, will take the place of an in-person fall harvest.
The webpage will feature cooking demonstrations, a vendor market, performances from Northern New Mexican artists and suggestions for educational activities and crafts.
People will also be able to participate in a virtual 5K race, which they can complete any time in September, and a virtual apple pie baking contest, for which they will submit pictures. Winners will be announced during a livestream event on Oct. 1.
The interactive website can be found here: http://nmhistoricsites.org/harvest-fest
The staff will donate the apples that visitors would normally harvest to COVID-19 relief systems.