El Macho Church - New Mexico Church
by Susan Rissi Tregoning
Title
El Macho Church - New Mexico Church
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
More formally named Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, El Macho Church is a small chapel located in El Macho Canyon. Throughout the 1900s, it was known as San Antonio - El Macho or just San Antonio. It is a Mission of Saint Anthony of Padua Parish in Pecos, New Mexico.
According to the Santa Fe Library blog, a Spanish-American colonist named Cortez and several other men built this church in 1857 over the ruins of an earlier Indian church.
The church was restored sometime in the 1950s after the back wall collapsed. During the restoration work, 35 bodies in wooden caskets were found under the church floor. Thought to possibly be Spanish settlers since they traditionally buried some people "en la Capilla" (in the Chapel) before the 1900s. They were reburied in a common grave. The first recorded burial in the El Macho Cemetery was in 1904. There is also an older cemetery that dates from the early 1900s on the hill above the church.
The church has no electricity, plumbing, or heat, but it is still used occasionally and is beautifully lit with lanterns on Christmas Eve for La Posada.
Copyright 2021 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
September 28th, 2021
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