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Tucked away down a long tree-lined country
lane on the northern side of Albuquerque, New Mexico remains a 250-year-old destination
for travelers. This buckskin-colored, renovated and buttressed building, now fashioned
into La Hacienda Grande Bed and Breakfast Inn, is said to be the oldest inn in the entire
country, serving travelers at a friendly home.
Discovering La Hacienda Grande becomes a trip
back in time. As one sits under the central portal of this low-slung, Spanish Fort style
adobe fortress scented by honeysuckle and spanish broom, there is an overwhelming sense of
history and tradition. Nestled in the cool shade of the tall cottonwood trees near the
banks of the Rio Grande, La Hacienda Grande has long been a resting place for weary
travelers. In the years 1541 and 1542, Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado came
up from Mexico City into what is now New Mexico in search of the fabled Seven Cities of
Cibola. While charting out this unexplored territory, some of Coronado's men might have camped here as the Tiguex Pueblo is only 3/4 of a mile away.
From 1581 to 1880, the Spanish explorers and
missionaries used El Camino Real, the Royal Road to travel between the Spanish stronghold
of Mexico City and the New Mexico colonies, whose capital was Santa Fe. For almost 300
years, from the early years of the Spanish empire in the Americas, through the years of
the Mexican and United States territorial settlement, El Camino Real was the main
thoroughfare for missionaries, colonists, soldiers, and commerce to New Mexico. Until the
opening of the Santa Fe Trail in the 1800s, El Camino Real was the main road to the
outside world for the province of Mexico. This historic route passed near the grounds
of La Hacienda Grande.
In 1711, the Spanish colonizers granted the
Gallegos family a large section, 100 square miles, of present day Llanito to be used as
a farm and ranch. Shortly before or after this time the original structure of La Hacienda
Grande was built on this ranch and soon became the center of the Spanish village growing
around Bernalillo. The Gallegos and Montoya families intermarried. The estate served as
the economic, cultural, and political center for the surrounding community. Since this
time, it has served as a comfortable resting place for travelers along the Rio Grande.
Several local legends surround the Hacienda.
One such legend is about Church gold and treasures being stored under the dirt floors of La
Hacienda Grande. Before Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church was built in Bernalillo, a room in the
structure served as a chapel. During this period, La Hacienda Grande served as the center of Catholic worship
in the Village of Bernalillo. Long before the Spanish arrived, the site was known as
sacred land to the nearby Tiguex pueblo tribe.
During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers
were ransacking churches in New Mexico and were headed toward Bernalillo. The legend is that for protection, the Church is said to have brought its Church gold and other sacred icons
and treasures to the property chapel and buried them under one of the dirt floors of the Hacienda's rooms. The area was spared when the Confederate soldiers were cut off by the
Union army, but for unknown reasons it is said that the treasures were left in or on the property. Their exact
location was lost, and family members over the years tried different methods to locate the
lost treasure, and so have several others who had rented the home.
In the early 80's, a man known to be interested
in the gold rented the house (now La Hacienda Grande) for several months. When his rent
was overdue, the Montoya family stopped by
and found an eight-foot hole in the floor in one of the rooms. The man was never seen
again. Guests of the inn yet wonder if the gold is still there or if he recovered and
absconded with it. Would you tell?
The old chapel area of the house now
functions as its kitchen, the dining room was once the estate's winery and grainery and
the common room had been a stable later used for agarage and coal storage. The Portal is supported by corbels
and weathered beams, line the inner walls of a central courtyard which exudes the peaceful
quietness of a meditative afternoon.
La Hacienda Grande Bed and Breakfast is
currently owned by Melody & Troy Scott who came near the coolness of the Rio Grande for a
more peaceful business lifestyle.
Ask Melody & Troy about other wonderful stories about the place.
For reservations call: 800-353-1887 or 505-867-1887
or e-mail us at: lhg@swcp.com
Check out our Specials
& Packages!
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Photos by Daniel Buop, Dave Hotchkiss, Cynthia Blue-Horse and Dave Gilderall rights reserved.
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