Pecos Pueblo & the Santa Fe Trail

The Santa Fe Trail ran right through the grounds of the Pecos Pueblo. Those traveling on the Santa Fe Trail in the 1820s and 1830s would have seen the residents of the pueblo as they passed on by. Some of the travelers set up camp near the pueblo. One such traveler, Samuel Magoffin, took the trip to and from Santa Fe many times. His wife, Susan, wrote her own account in a diary while she accompanied Samuel on a trip along the trail in 1846-1847. On this trip, Samuel noted to Susan the Pecos Pueblo and where he stayed while it was still inhabited by the Pecos people. 

Susan later wrote of her own encounter with the pueblo, "Saturday 29th. I have visited this morning the ruins of an ancient pueblo...But now something of what my own eyes witnessed. The only part standing is the church. We got off our horses at the door and went in, and I was truly awed." (Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico: The Diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin, 1846-1847) 

To learn more about Susan and her journey on the Santa Fe Trail please visit these sites: 

A Biography of her life 

Excerpts of her diary 

Other travelers on the Santa Fe Trail also noted the pueblo and the mission church that currently stands today. While the pueblo had been abandoned in 1838, quite a few later travelers took note of the pueblo and church and wondered about the people who had lived there.