Where is Don Diego De Vargas Buried?
A Santa Fe Lost but Not Forgotten Cemetery Tour
Thursday, Wednesday, August 20th at 9:30am

Take a walking tour through some of Santa Fe’s oldest “lost” graveyards.

Everywhere one walks in downtown Santa Fe, the Dead are there, under our feet. Thousands still occupy their graves, resting perhaps uneasily, under the buildings, streets, sidewalks and parking lots of modern Santa Fe. These people lived and died at this sacred place along the Santa Fe river and were buried close by their families and community for thousands of years. Who would have believed when they were laid to rest, that their graves could be so easily lost in a city that claims to revere her history and her Dead?

Beginning on the Plaza in the heart of Santa Fe and ending in the Barrio de Analco, walk among some of Santa Fe’s oldest Historic graveyards. Learn about the “Lost Dead” who still occupy their graves under Santa Fe; conquistadors, nuns, babies, paupers, mothers, fathers, speakers of many languages, the famous, the infamous and the anonymous. Hear how their graves have been lost, often damaged and are always under threat of destruction. Learn about efforts to find and preserve the graves of Santa Fe’s long, and not so long lost Dead.

Nuestra Senora de La Casas Reales and Our Lady of Light Chapel (La Castrense)
When the most influential people in “La Villa” were soldiers, the military chapels and their camposantos were the resting places of the elite and their families. On the north side of the plaza, now underneath the intersection of Palace and Washington Avenues, visit the dead buried under what was once the floor of the military chapel Nuestra Senora de La Casas Reales. Attached to the Palace of the Governors, this chapel is considered one of the possible last resting places of the mortal remains of Don Diego de Vargas. On the south side of the plaza, visit the Dead yet interred around what was Our Lady of Light Chapel (La Castrense). Active as a military and then community chapel between 1760 and 1859. Perhaps dozens of people who were buried in the chapel camposanto lie underneath the pavement and sidewalks of San Francisco Street. Parish records of burials at La Castrense include some of 18th century Spanish. Colonial Santa Fe’s most prominent citizens.

Parish Church of Saint Francis of Assisi
From the plaza we will visit the Dead in the expansive composanto(s) in the heart of what was Catholic Santa Fe. The first Parish Church, dedicated to St. Francis, was founded in 1610, the post-revolt “La Paroquia” was founded in 1714 and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi was begun in 1869. The parish churches and their camposantos were the principal burial grounds for the ordinary citizens of Santa Fe, as well as the well to do and clergy, for over two centuries.

San Miguel Chapel and Camposanto
From the cathdral walk south across the river to the San Miguel Chapel. This ancient mission on the south side of the Santa Fe river was one of the earliest Catholic consecrated space in Santa Fe. Multiple construction and destruction episodes since the chapel was first built circa 1620, leaves the exact size and the locations of associated camposantos largely unknown. Recent archaeological excavations in the San Miguel churchyard encountered graves. The people buried here were those for whom this chapel was the center of community, the Barrio de Analco.

Old San Miguel (Saint Michael’s) Cemetery
At the end of the tour, stand in the heart of what was easily the largest 19th century Catholic burial ground in Santa Fe. The graves remaining in this cemetery are now possible the most endangered of any in the city. Now under the parking lot of the PERA Building, this cemetery was founded at least by 1846, when the Dead had overflowed the subfloor spaces and camposantos of Santa Fe’s churches and chapels. The location of the cemetery is well documented in plats, drawings and photographs, and only became “lost” with the transfer of the parcel from the Christian Brothers to the State of New Mexico in the mid 20th century. Graves have been disturbed repeatedly during construction and utilities work in the area since the 1960s and are being disturbed to the present day.

CANCELLATION POLICY
A full refund for the tour only will be given if canceled on or before March 21, 2024. If there is a cancellation after March 21, the participant(s) will be issued a tax-donation for the amount retained at the foundation.