Dorothy Stewart Trail: A Narrative by Irene von Horvath
Text and illustrations by Irene von Horvath, July 25, 1989. Transcribed March 19, 2026.
It was in December of 1942, on my very first visit to Santa Fe, that I met Margretta Dietrich and her sister, Dorothy Stewart. They invited me to Christmas dinner at El Zaguan and told me (in an illustrated booklet of our travel scholarship) about Santa Fe’s slow growth, and their effort to preserve the charm of the old city and its surroundings by purchasing old adobe houses and vacant land in strategic locations.
Over the next ten years I made numerous trips to Santa Fe from the East Coast, always looking for a place to move to in this area. Dorothy Stewart knew of my unproductive search and sent me a most unexpected letter. She said that all of her property was in joint ownership with her sister except for a parcel of fourteen acres just below the Atalaya on which she had built a studio. She wanted to retain the studio and four acres but offered to sell me the remaining ten acres.
The following year, 1953, I moved to Santa Fe, equipped with brochures and books on solar power, wind mills [sic], glass storage batteries, instructions on how to raise goats and rabbits, and with a four-wheel-drive Jeep station wagon. Location for a well had already been determined by dowsing.
Around that time Dorothy’s studio was badly vandalized, paintings slashed and everything splattered with paint and turpentine by two young boys. The only other building in that entire area was a house built by Kate Chapman. She had died, and her husband, Dr. Kenneth Chapman, had given up trying to maintain the vacant building: he watched its gradual destruction (everything stolen, windows, doors, roofing, vigas) – eventually he authorized the total removal of every single adobe, tile and brick.
Meanwhile I was still dreaming of my small ranch. I spent only one night on that hill, shivering in my tightly locked Jeep station wagon, unable to sleep a wink in that solitude. It was not long after that night that a local resident walking her dog in that area was murdered. The studio building suffered increasing vandalism and theft, and 35 of the best trees on the property were cut down and hauled away.
I continued paying the reasonable taxes and turning down innumerable offers to sell the ten acres. In 1955 Dorothy went to Mexico, where she died. Margretta acquired the four acres and badly vandalized studio. I bought them as well as seven inaccessible acres at the north end of an excessively large tract adjoining my property (from Mrs. Dietrich’s estate).
Suddenly property values and taxes skyrocketed. I was turning down offers of $50,000 an acre because I could not bear the thought of development on the site.
I contacted The Nature Conservancy, which was in Albuquerque at the time. Although there were no special features, plants or animals to protect, they suggested that I give them the land with whatever restrictions I wanted – the money to be spent only on projects in New Mexico, and construction on the site to be limited to one house.
At that time I was approached by Henry Carey of the Forest Trust who asked me whether I had any idea of what a wonderful trail was possible at the edges of the 21 acres. He took me on an unforgettable hike – I was clinging to trees on steep slopes, but the views were indeed wonderful. And this was the only property which adjoined more than 240 acres of City land dedicated to public use, but totally inaccessible except by helicopter. I gave 9 acres to Forest Trust and 12 acres to Nature Conservancy. That was the beginning of the trail, which I thought should be named after the person who first preserved the area.
Construction of the Dorothy N. Stewart Trail was a wonderful project to train Mora County youngsters in a specialty which would allow them to bring money into financially depressed Mora County.
One day I went to see how they were coming along – and there was no one on the site. Forest Trust had run out of funds for the project, although the trail was only half finished. Since trail construction cost was approximately $1.75 a foot, I started selling trail footage, 3 feet for five dollars, and raised enough to finish the trail. Each contributor received a copy of the twelve sketches I made (in a series) on the day the trail was completed. Even a little dog was among the contributors.
The Dorothy N. Stewart Trail was completed on July 25, 1989. Of the six parking spaces which I had stipulated, to date only four have been made available. The DNS Trail not only provides access to the city land, but is the access to other future trails.
Read more about Irene von Horvath and her historic home on Canyon Road from Old Santa Fe Today, 5th Edition: https://www.historicsantafe.org/property-portfolio-2/irene-von-horvath-house Purchase Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition here: https://www.historicsantafe.org/hsff-gift-shop/p/old-santa-fe-today-fifth-edition
