A guide to current and past people of note.
Staff report
The multicultural, contemporary Taos we know today dates back to August 29, 1540 when Capitan Hernando Alvarado arrived in the Taos Valley for the first time. Today, three cultures exist side by side, and Taos’ history is dotted with so many illustrious names.
Here are a few highlights:
Ernie Blake
Taos Ski Valley Inc.’s founder was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1987 and the New Mexico Ski Hall of Fame in 2003. The Blake family left Nazi Germany in 1938, but Ernie later returned to Germany to help in the Allied war effort working for both British Intelligence and in Gen. Patton’s Third Army. Later, it was while flying between the ski areas he ran in Santa Fe and Glenwood Springs, Colorado, that Ernie first spotted the snow-covered slopes that led to TSV’s founding in 1956. Ernie, 75, died in 1989 of pneumonia.
John Nichols
John Nichols had already tasted fame before coming to Taos in 1969. His novel, “The Sterile Cuckoo” (1965), was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Liza Minnelli in 1969. His seminal novel, “The Milagro Beanfield War,” was written here, and in a sense, it remains the quintessential Northern New Mexican novel (albeit by a gringo.) He wrote the New Mexico Trilogy — “The Milagro Beanfield War” (1974), “The Magic Journey” (1978), and “The Nirvana Blues” (1981) — as well as numerous other works of fiction and nonfiction. Nichols died in 2023.
Padre Antonio José Martínez
Padre Antonio José Martínez — Jan. 16, 1793–July 27, 1867 — was the very famous pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish for over 30 years and was a pivotal political, spiritual and cultural influence during the transition of power from Mexican to U.S. governance in the mid-1800s. As a result of his activism, he was famously excommunicated by Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy.
Kit Carson
Whatever one feels about his legacy, Christopher “Kit” Carson left his mark in Northern New Mexico: The Kit Carson Home & Museum is an intriguing stop on any history aficionado’s tour in Taos, and Kit Carson Park is named for the famed explorer, scout, trapper, Indian agent, rancher, and soldier. He traversed and scouted the Santa Fe Trail, fought Confederate troops in New Mexico during the Civil War and battled to secure California for his country in the Mexican-American War. But Carson’s role in rounding up the Navajo in the 1860s — which led to their forced “Long Walk” — damaged his legacy as a “frontier hero.”
Marcelino Baca
Baca was a Taos native and a fur trader who helped establish the Southwest fur trade. Taos’ establishment as a major trade center put the town on the map long before the arts did. Baca settled down with his family in 1854 in what is now Red River; then it was Río Colorado. He died in the Civil War as one of the New Mexico Volunteers in a battle with invading Texans on Feb. 21, 1862.
Dennis Hopper
When Dennis Hopper passed away in May 2010, just a couple of weeks after his 74th birthday, American pop culture lost one of its greatest iconoclastic figureheads, and Taos lost one of its most colorful residents. Over the years, Hopper’s life and times became entwined with Taos. It is where he shot portions of his phenomenally successful hippie-biker film “Easy Rider” and lived on and off ever since. Hopper bought the Mabel Dodge Luhan house and dubbed it “The Mud Palace,” threw some star-studded parties and was buried in nearby Talpa after he died.
Gary Johnson
The erstwhile Libertarian presidential candidate and former New Mexico governor has a home only a short drive from Taos Ski Valley. It makes sense. He is an avid skier, cyclist and all-around athlete.
Donald Rumsfeld
The late Defense Secretary under President George W. Bush lived in Taos part-time and had been spotted with his grandkids at a July 4 parade. Demonstrations erupted at his property during the Iraq War, but he remained unruffled. He told Gentleman’s Quarterly in 2007, “I have nothing to apologize for.” On June 29, 2021, Rumsfeld died at his home in Taos.
Dean Stockwell
The late actor and artist appeared in about 100 films since 1945 and acted on the small screen even more often, including the 1990’s hit “Quantum Leap.” Unlike many of the celebs Hopper lured here, Stockwell stayed. An accomplished artist, he created “surreal, digitally enhanced collages” and brightly colored dice sculptures. In 2021 he died of natural causes in New Zealand, where his daughter lived.
R.C. Gorman
The New York Times called him “the Picasso of American Indian artists.” From the late 1960s to his death in 2005, Rudolph Carl Gorman lived in his compound visible from State Road 522 and exhibited his richly colored images of over-sized, impressionistic Native women.
Larry Bell
A resident of Taos since 1973, Bell is probably best-known for his 3D glass cubes. He told Trend magazine in 2014: “I’m a party guy,” Bell says, with a boyish grin. “… In Taos, there is much less temptation.” His work graces the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London and just about every major museum throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Aldous Huxley
The British author of “Brave New World” reportedly wrote his collection of essays “Means and Ends” in 1937 while staying at the homestead that is now the Taos Goji Farm & Eco-Lodge. The lore: Huxley once ran into the outhouse in fear of a dog. The philosopher and futurist was trapped in there for three hours.
Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron
To those who have tried to tap into their inner writer or artist, these women are household names and former Taos residents. They both have since emigrated to Santa Fe. Between them, they wrote dozens of books. “Writing Down the Bones” and “The Artist’s Way,” respectively, are their most popular works.
Mike Reynolds
The documentary on this man’s life is called “The Garbage Warrior” and, indeed, his Earthship community northwest of town is a monument to the idea that one can live off-grid and use recycled materials to build comfortable, self-sustaining, attractive, artistic, and downright cozy homes.
Agnes Martin
Martin first came to New Mexico when she was a young woman. Some of her large, minimalist paintings hang in the Harwood Museum here. The world-renowned artist moved to New Mexico in 1967, and in the end, came back to Taos in 1993 and lived here until her death in 2004.
Dave Hahn
You could say he’s a Taos Ski Valley patroller, and that would be correct. But it would sort of miss the point. The man has scaled Mount Everest 15 times. He even guided former Gov. Gary Johnson to the summit of Everest and Mt. Vinson in Antarctica
Andrew Dasburg
An American modernist painter and “one of America’s leading early exponents of cubism,” Andrew Dasburg will forever be recognized in 20th century American art history as one who heroically carried on the battle for modernism, primarily in New York in the early years of the 20th century. He will also be remembered as an artist of great versatility who brought new interpretations to the New Mexico landscape that are distinctive and lasting. He died in Taos at age 92 in 1979.
Robert Mirabal
The locals think of Mirabal as a farmer, flute maker, a good dad — and, oh yes, a Grammy Award-winning musician who played Carnegie Hall last year. Taos Pueblo-born, Mirabal won the 2008 Native American Album of the Year. He plays locally quite often, and if you are lucky, you might catch one of these remarkable performances.
Mabel Dodge Luhan
Arts patron, salon hostess, writer and prominent Taoseña, Mabel Dodge Luhan is celebrated for her role in building artistic communities, supporting artists and generating interest in modern art forms. After building a four-room adobe, which eventually had 17 rooms, she entertained painters, sculptors and photographers John Marin, Georgia O’Keeffe, Ansel Adams and Laura Gilpin; dance choreographer Martha Graham; anthropologists John Collier and Elsie Clews Parsons; and writers Willa Cather, Aldous Huxley, and D. H. Lawrence. She is buried in Kit Carson Memorial Cemetery.
Millicent Rogers
Heiress, socialite, fashion icon, jewelry designer, and art collector, Rogers designed modern jewelry pieces that she eventually had made (or made herself at her own bench). She was very passionate about both the Hispanic and Native American communities in New Mexico and played a quiet but instrumental role in securing Blue Lake for Taos Pueblo. Her Taos legacy remains in the museum that bears her name.
Dorothy Brett
In 1924, Brett moved to the D. H. Lawrence Ranch near Taos with Lawrence and his wife Frieda. She settled permanently in Taos and became a U.S. citizen in 1938. In the 100 years since her arrival, her images have become iconic representations of the people and landscape of Taos.