La BajadaNew Mexico Ghost Town

LA BAJADA

NAME: La Bajada
COUNTY: Santa Fe
ROADS: 2WD
GRID #(see map): 2
CLIMATE: Mild winter, warm summer
BEST TIME TO VISIT:Spring, winter, fall

COMMENTS: Worth the trip
REMAINS:The church

La Bajada dates back to the 1680s when it was inhabited by people from what is now across the border. Later, and for many years, the town served as a vital stopping point for stages, freight wagons and then automobiles after the harrowing hairpin descent from La Bajada Hill. The road, which was replace in 1932, was along the route of the old Santa Fe Trail which linked Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Most of the residents moved away in the early 1940s to seek a better way of life other than farming. One of the most interesting ruins at La Bajada is the melting adobe shell of the Catholic Church and beside it the wooden fences and crosses of long-neglected graves. Courtesy Henry Chenoweth.	La Bajada Courtesy Kurt Wenner La Bajada Courtesy Kurt Wenner

La Bajada dates back to the 1680s when it was inhabited by people from what is now across the border. Later, and for many years, the town served as a vital stopping point for stages, freight wagons and then automobiles after the harrowing hairpin descent from La Bajada Hill. The road, which was replace in 1932, was along the route of the old Santa Fe Trail which linked Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Most of the residents moved away in the early 1940s to seek a better way of life other than farming. One of the most interesting ruins at La Bajada is the melting adobe shell of the Catholic Church and beside it the wooden fences and crosses of long-neglected graves. Courtesy Henry Chenoweth.

La Bajada
Courtesy Kurt Wenner

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