Qualla: Taos, New Mexico: A Broken Wagon Wheel's Legacy

Taos, New Mexico: A Broken Wagon Wheel's Legacy: Introduction

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kyle Magnuson from Los Angeles, United States, CC BY 2.0. In September 1898, two painters named Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips were hauling their equipment from Denver to Mexico when a wagon wheel broke 20 miles north of Taos. A coin toss decided who would ride into town for repairs. Blumenschein lost the toss, loaded the broken wheel onto a horse, and rode south into a valley where the Sangre de Cristo Mountains caught the afternoon light in colors he had never seen. He never made it to Mexico. Neither did Phillips. That broken wheel launched the Taos art colony, but the town's story runs far deeper: Taos Pueblo, just north of the plaza, has been continuously inhabited for over a thousand years, making it one of the oldest living communities in North America.

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Image: Kyle Magnuson from Los Angeles, United States | CC BY 2.0

Taos, New Mexico: A Broken Wagon Wheel's Legacy: The Ancient Heart

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Saqib (talk), Public domain. Taos Pueblo predates the town by centuries. The multi-story adobe structures, built between approximately 1000 and 1450 CE, stand as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest continuously occupied communities in the United States. About 150 people live in the main buildi...

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Image: Saqib (talk) | Public domain

Taos, New Mexico: A Broken Wagon Wheel's Legacy: The Artists Who Stayed

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Christopher Michel, CC BY 2.0. Phillips and Blumenschein's broken wagon wheel in 1898 was the founding accident of what became the first significant art colony in the American West. By 1915, they had joined with Joseph Henry Sharp, Oscar Berninghaus, E. Irving Couse, and W. Herbert Dunton to form the Taos Soci...

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Image: Christopher Michel | CC BY 2.0

Taos, New Mexico: A Broken Wagon Wheel's Legacy: The Hum Nobody Can Explain

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Khlnmusa, CC BY-SA 3.0. Since the early 1990s, some residents and visitors have reported hearing a persistent low-frequency noise in and around Taos. The Taos Hum, as it became known, is audible only to certain people, most often described as a faint diesel engine idling in the distance. Those who hear ...

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Image: Khlnmusa | CC BY-SA 3.0

Taos, New Mexico: A Broken Wagon Wheel's Legacy: Earthships and Ski Runs

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Quinn Dombrowski from Berkeley, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. West of town, architect Mike Reynolds built the Earthship Biotecture community, a collection of sustainable homes constructed from recycled tires, cans, and bottles, powered by solar energy and harvesting their own water. The Earthship Academy trains students in these constructio...

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Image: Quinn Dombrowski from Berkeley, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

Taos, New Mexico: A Broken Wagon Wheel's Legacy: The High Road and the Gorge

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marge6914, CC BY-SA 3.0. Taos sits at nearly 7,000 feet elevation in a high valley where the Sangre de Cristo Mountains meet the sagebrush plateau. The Rio Grande Gorge cuts through the landscape to the west, and the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge on Highway 64 offers a 650-foot drop to the river below. El Crep...

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Image: Marge6914 | CC BY-SA 3.0