The word 'Taos' means 'red willow' in the Tiwa language. Many people in Taos claim to have experienced what is termed the Taos Hum. It is believed that this ultra low frequency originates from a covert hidden government research laboratory, whose existence has neither been proven or disproved. Other scientists ascribe this phenomenon to naturally-occurring geological events. The lore of this phenomenon has become part of the appeal of this unique community.
Situated where the western flank of the Sangre de Cristo range meets the semiarid high desert of the upper Rio Grande Valley, Taos combines nature and culture, history and progress. There is a much less artificial atmosphere here than at the state capital. Though the architecture might not be as aesthetically pleasing, it somehow seems more appropriate to the rough-and-ready setting.
Located just 40 miles south of the Colorado border, about 70 miles north of Santa Fe, and approximately 130 miles from Albuquerque, Taos is best known for its thriving art colony, its historic Native American pueblo, and its nearby ski area, one of the most highly regarded in the Rockies. It also has several fine museums and a wide choice of accommodations and restaurants for visitors.
About 5,000 people consider themselves Taosenos (permanent residents of Taos) today. They carry on a legacy of habitation that may have begun as long as 5,000 years ago; prehistoric ruins more than a millennium old exist throughout the Taos valley.
The Spanish first visited in 1540 and colonized the area in 1598, putting down three rebellions at the Taos Pueblo in the last two decades of the 17th century. Through the 18th and 19th centuries Taos was an important trade center: New Mexico's annual caravan to Chihuahua, Mexico, couldn't leave until after the annual midsummer Taos Fiesta. French trappers began attending the Fiesta in 1739. Plains tribes, even though they often attacked the Pueblos at other times, also attended the market festivals under a temporary annual truce. By the early 1800s Taos had become a headquarters for American "mountain men," the most famous of whom, Kit Carson, made his home in Taos from 1826 to 1868.
Taos, firmly Hispanic, stayed loyal to Mexico during the Mexican War of 1846. The city rebelled against its new U.S. landlord in 1847, killing newly appointed Gov. Charles Bent in his Taos home. Nevertheless it became a part of the Territory of New Mexico in 1850. It fell into Confederate hands for just six weeks during the Civil War, at the end of which time Carson and two other statesmen raised the Union flag over Taos Plaza and guarded it day and night. Since then Taos has had the honor of flying the flag 24 hours a day.
When the railroad bypassed Taos for Santa Fe, the population dwindled. But in 1898 two eastern artists - Ernest Bumenshein and Bert Phillips - discovered the dramatic light changes in the Taos valley and put them on canvas. By 1912 the Taos Society of Artists had placed the town on the international cultural map. Today, by some estimates, more than 10% of the population are painters, sculptors, writers, musicians, or people who otherwise earn income from an artistic pursuit.
The town of Taos is merely the focal point of rugged 2,200-square-mile Taos County. Two features dominate this sparsely populated region: the high desert mesa, split in two by the 650-foot-deep chasm of the Rio Grande; and the Sangre de Cristo range, which tops out at 13,161-foot Wheeler Peak, New Mexico's highest mountain.
- From Frommer's Comprehensive Travel Guide - Sante Fe, Taos & Albuquerque '93-'94
