Rayado (uncommonly Reyado or Ryado) was the first permanent settlement in Colfax County,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, United States and an important stop on the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, the ...

. The name ''Rayado'' derives from the Spanish term for "streaked", perhaps in reference to the lot lines marked out by

Lucien Maxwell Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell (September 14, 1818 – July 25, 1875) was a mountain man, rancher, scout, and farmer who at one point owned more than . Along with Thomas Catron and Ted Turner, Maxwell was one of the largest private landowners in Uni ...

. Some of the land in the townsite was purchased by

Waite Phillips Waite Phillips (January 19, 1883 – January 27, 1964) was an American petroleum businessman who created a fully integrated operation that combined petroleum producing, refining and marketing. With headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he also develo ...

in the 1920s and Phillips later donated it to the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

and it became part of the Philmont Scout Ranch. Today, Rayado is the home of the Kit Carson Museum, the Maxwell-Abreu house, the Martinez house, the Holy Child chapel, and ''La Posta'', a

stage stop dating from the 1850s.

Background

Rayado is located where the mountain branch of the Santa Fe Trail intersects with the Cimarron Trail to

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

. Rayado is at , along State Route 21 at the extreme southeast corner of

Philmont Scout Ranch Philmont Scout Ranch is a ranch located in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States, near the village of Cimarron. Donated by oil baron Waite Phillips, the ranch is owned by Scouting America. It is a high adventure base where crews of Scouts ...

. One mile to the south is a classic southwestern

butte In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...

, called Kit Carson Mesa. Rayado Mesa is located southeast of Rayado and Rayado Peak at is located west of Rayado on the

. Rayado was founded by Lucien Maxwell in 1848 at the end of the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

, as the first

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

s settlement in New Mexico east of the mountain valleys of the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish language, Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost mountain range, subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountai ...

. Because the plains were still subject to raids by

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

and other Indians, he had difficulty attracting settlers, so he convinced

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and United States Army, U.S. Army officer. He became an American frontier legend in his own lifetime ...

to move down from

Taos Taos or TAOS may refer to: Places * Taos County, New Mexico, United States ** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico *** Taos art colony, an art colony founded in Taos, New Mexico ** Taos Pueblo, a Native American ...

in 1849 to lend an air of safety to the enterprise. Maxwell married his bride Luis Beaubien (daughter of

Carlos Beaubien Charles H. Beaubien (October 22, 1800 – February 6, 1864), also known as Alexis Beaubien, Don Carlos Beaubien and Charles Trotier, was a North American-born American fur trader who was one of two investors who owned of northeastern New Mexico a ...

) in Rayado and they lived there before moving to Cimarron.Julyan, Robert (1998) "Rayado" ''Place Names of New Mexico'' (2nd ed.) University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, p.287, . A federal garrison post was established in Rayado in 1850 and lasted until Fort Union was opened.Rathburn, Daniel C. B. And Alexander, David V. (2003) "Rayado, Post at Colfax County" ''New Mexico Frontier Military Place Names'' Yucca Tree Press, Las Cruces, NM, p. 144, Jesus Gil Abreu who also married a Beaubien daughter had his Abreu Ranch house there on the banks of the Rayado Creek from 1859 until his death in 1911. There was a post office there from 1873 to 1919. Kit Carson Mesa

Buildings

Kit Carson Museum

The Kit Carson Museum resides in a recreation of a New Mexican

Territorial Style Territorial Style was an architectural style of building developed and used in Santa Fe de Nuevo México, popularized after the founding of Albuquerque in 1706. Reintroduced during the New Mexico Territory from the time of the Mexican and American ...

home. The original building that stood in this location may have been built around 1850, but had deteriorated significantly by the 1940s. In 1948, Philmont Scout Ranch demolished what little remained of the structure, and proceeded to build the current building, following the original foundations and a sketch from an Abreu family member. The building is arranged around a ''placita,'' or courtyard; this arrangement was designed to provide protection from various Native American tribes, including the

Jicarilla Apache Jicarilla Apache (, Jicarilla language: Jicarilla Dindéi), one of several loosely organized autonomous bands of the Eastern Apache, refers to the members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation currently living in New Mexico and speaking a Southern Athaba ...

and the

Ute people Ute () are an Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin, Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah, western Colorado, and northern New Mexico.Pritkzer''A Native American Encyclopedia'' p. 242 Historically, their t ...

. The east side of the building encompasses 4 rooms of the museum, each furnished in a historical manner. The north portion of the building is made up almost entirely by ''la Sala,'' a large hall for communal gatherings. The west portion of the building contains a staff area, not open to the public. The south part contains a

Forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...

and other working areas.

Maxwell-Abreu and Martinez houses

The Maxwell-Abreu and Martinez houses, now on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, were originally built as one large structure around a ''placita.'' Lucian Maxwell began construction during his residence at Rayado. As the Abreu family began using the property, many of the other rooms were demolished or dismantled for materials.

Chapel of the Holy Child

The Chapel of the Holy Child was built around 1900 by the Abreu family, and deeded to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 1911.

La Posta

La Posta is a stage stop built around 1850. It also functioned as a trading post and post office.

References

External links

* {{authority control Unincorporated communities in New Mexico Unincorporated communities in Colfax County, New Mexico