Querencia Mi Mesilla

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Mesilla, NM
Querencia Mi Mesilla

Restoring historic adobes and sharing preservation expertise to sustain our future.

08/23/2026

Louie C. Atencio (1955 – 2026) was a social hero, someone who worked to improve the lives of people in his community and to help young people who needed a mentor and counseling they could trust. In the 1990’s, Louie was part of a massive seven-year effort to preserve the Nuestra Senora de Candelaria Church in Doña Ana, New Mexico - which is the oldest surviving church in southern New Mexico. The project began with community volunteers and then evolved into a program for young people, most of whom had dropped out of high school. With funding provided by Cornerstones Community Partnerships, the Summer Youth Training Program and the Department of Labor the program participants were employed, attended GED classes and received counseling services. During a period of time when gangs and the potential for violence were escalating, the preservation program provided much-needed structure and support. Querencia Mi Mesilla honors the memory and legacy of Louie C. Atencio.

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https://www.donaanavillagehpc.org/ https://www.querenciamimesilla.org

08/15/2026

Adobes baking in the hot sun are so much a part of our uniquely New Mexican culture. Everyone has their own favorite recipe for making enchiladas and the same is probably true for making adobes. Our adobe recipe is a mix of 60 - 80% sand and 20 – 40% clay. However since soils gathered from different locations are never exactly the same, we always make sample adobes using different ratios to fine tune our adobe recipe. Traditional ingredients used for making adobes also include straw and horse manure. A very good friend, Arquitecto Antonio Guerrero, once said, “Un adobe sin paja es un adobe sin alma.” (An adobe without straw, is an adobe without soul.) “And who can argue with tradition.”

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Websites: https://querenciamimesilla.org

08/02/2026

The Old Blacksmith Shop: The last old adobe blacksmith shop is still standing. It was constructed sometime in the 1930’s by the Jose Medina family and is currently in the planning phase for a major preservation project. This past week, Querencia Mi Mesilla shored up the roof inside the old adobe building. All that remains inside the old blacksmith shop are piles of rusty metal and weathered wooden shelves covered with dust. Most of the significant pieces of equipment were removed from the building long ago. In the 1960’s, Simon Guerra was still spending time in his blacksmith shop. Mary Daniels Taylor took his photo sitting in front smoking a cigar with documents spread out on an anvil in front of him. He may have been working on a few odd jobs as a blacksmith, but at the time he was also the town judge - sometimes holding court in front of the blacksmith shop with an anvil as his desk. He could have been the last Mesilla blacksmith in the 1960’s, but a hundred years before, blacksmiths were vital businesses within the community. In the 1860 census, there were 7 working blacksmiths in Mesilla. Querencia Mi Mesilla pays tribute to Simon Guerra and the 7 blacksmiths - Benito Barela, Teodoro Dominguez, Gabino Chacon, Desiderio Gomez, George Mills, Benigno Ramirez and James Wilson. Thank you all for your contributions to our community.

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website: querenciamimesilla.org

07/25/2026

A small cannonball about 4 inches in diameter was found during a restoration project on the San Miguel Chapel in Santa Fe. A burial site (within the church) was accidently discovered while preserving the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria Church in Doña Ana, New Mexico. Preservation projects inadvertently uncover some interesting finds. On local projects old clay marbles are fairly common find. Children played with clay marbles in the 1800’s up to the 1920’s. A very old Mexican matchbox was found in the lime foundation of the old Barela Store (which was built in the 1850’s on the Mesilla Plaza). Three metates and one mano were found embedded in a concrete collar. A small collection of three vintage hoe heads was uncovered while filling in an old chimney flue. A piece of wood from an old shipping crate was found when removing the lumber above a window opening. The name Thom. J. Bull had been stamped on the wooden crate. Thomas Jefferson Bull moved into the area in 1849. He initially harvested and milled lumber from the Organ Mountains which he then shipped to El Paso. In 1851, he opened a lucrative mercantile store on the plaza in Mesilla which was awarded large government contracts to provide supplies to nearby forts.

07/12/2026

Frank Matero (1953-2025) - Adobe preservationists are a relatively small group, but we’re gaining ground because of people like Frank Matero. He was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania (UPENN) in the Department of Historic Preservation. He taught at the university and also had a field school in Mancos, Colorado where he provided field experience for his students as they worked on preservation projects. Frank asked Pat Taylor to come up to Mancos and provide an adobe workshop for his students. While in Mancos, they discussed the possibility of someday bringing his students to Mesilla. Sadly, they were never able to bring that dream to fruition.

Pat Taylor and Frank Matero’s paths crossed many times over the years. They were at the 2012 TERRA Conference in Lima, Peru. Each of them attended the TICRAT conference in Tumacacori National Park. Both were present at Fort Union National Park during a conservation project. And they were brought together once again during the restoration of San Javier del Bac Mission Church near Tucson, Arizona.

Frank Matero was a prolific scholar and researcher whose work influenced the preservation of earthen structures for over 35 years. Querencia Mi Mesilla honors the memory and legacy of Frank Matero.

Websites: https://querenciamimesilla.org https://sanxaviermission.org/ https://www.npca.org/parks/fort-union-national-monument https://www.nps.gov/tuma/index.htm

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06/28/2026

Harts Hacienda Workshop: Every generation hopes the next one will carry on their work. The curiosity, enthusiasm and willingness to get involved of the workshop’s youngest participant, gives us reason to believe - we will have another generation of adobe preservationists.

At a workshop held in El Paso, Texas, Querencia Mi Mesilla provided information about adobe preservation and making adobes. The workshop was requested by Abara and made possible by a collaboration between Querencia Mi Mesilla and Adobe in Action. (Preservation Texas-??) It was held at Hart’s Hacienda which was the home of Capt. Simeon Hart, his wife Jesusita and their six children. The adobe hacienda is located near the site of Hart’s Mill which was established in 1849 on the banks of the Rio Grande. Abara is the driving force behind efforts to preserve the historic building.

Websites: https://querenciamimesilla.org https://adobeinaction.org https://abara.org

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06/22/2026

The Adobe Wall Project: A cultural landscape is the visible story of a place; it includes historic buildings, regional material resources and vernacular construction techniques. In our town, it’s the old adobe buildings that are still standing as well as the remnants of structures that are no longer intact.

Several years prior to The Adobe Wall Project, the oldest part of the wall (the remnant) was also preserved. In the 1800’s, in that general location, there was an adobe house which belonged to J. Edgar Griggs. In 1870 - 1877, he and his partner Joseph Reynolds operated a mercantile store on the plaza. Three rooms from Griggs house are still standing: two of the rooms are now part of the Taylor Mesilla Historic Site and the third room is in a small casita still owned by the Taylor Family.

An excavation by archaeologist Dr. Kelly Jenks uncovered the remains of a corner fireplace, therefore we know the remnant was most likely part of an old adobe house. Was the remnant part of the house owned by J. Edgar Griggs? We believe it is, but we don’t really know.

What is the point of preserving a remnant from an old structure? It’s part of the cultural landscape of Mesilla; a small part of a visible story about how people lived in this community. It may seem insignificant, but if the remnant is demolished then a little piece of the story is erased. It vanishes and there is nothing left to look at, or ponder, or talk about.

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06/19/2026

The first annual Viva Querencia celebration of our supporters and accomplishments was a big success. Many thanks to all who joined us and made the evening so special. Many thanks to our generous host! The Querencia was deeply felt throughout the evening...

06/15/2026

The Adobe Wall Project: Progress on a small job, always seems to happen much more quickly. There is a definite sense of accomplishment each day, when the adobes are laid in mud mortar and each row is completed. As the wall neared completion, one of the inherent challenges in this project was connecting the new section of the wall to the remnants of the old wall. It required some discussion and planning to strategically connect the old with the new. As the wall neared the targeted height, the sides of the adobes in the top two layers were cut at an angle to facilitate drainage off the top of the wall. Querencia Mi Mesilla wishes to thank Cheryll and Paul Blevins from the Bowlin’s Bookcenter (on the Mesilla Plaza) for entrusting us with the preservation of their adobe wall. Congratulations to all the Querencia Interns on the successful completion of the Adobe Wall Project! Querencia Interns: Mulham Alkharboutli (crew leader), Melissa Armendariz, Becca Vasquez, Fernando Martinez, and Raymundo Olivas.

06/13/2026

The Adobe Wall Project: Small projects are equally rewarding. This sweet little adobe wall near the plaza was preserved by Querencia Interns. If you ever find yourself driving towards the Mesilla Plaza on Calle Parian, look to your left and you can see the completed project. No doubt the oldest part of the wall was a remnant from a long-forgotten adobe building and what little remained was slowly returning to the earth.

As the project began, the interns demolished a section of wall that was too damaged to be preserved and then rebuilt it. The photographs in this post document only the initial phase of the project. Visit us again at Facebook and Instagram to see a future post about the completed Adobe Wall Project. Querencia Interns: Mulham Alkharboutli (crew leader), Melissa Armendariz, Becca Vasquez, Fernando Martinez, and Raymundo Olivas.

Address

PO Box 52
Mesilla, NM
88046

Telephone

+15752013366

Website

https://querenciamimesilla.org/

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