Sabino’s Map: Life in Chimayó’s Old Plaza

Chimayó, New Mexico is renowned the world over for its Hispano master weaving families, flavorful chile peppers, lowriders, and its fabled church, El Santurio de Chimayó, one of the most visited Catholic shrines and pilgrimage centers in the United States. Not far away lies the Plaza del Cerro, the best preserved Spanish Colonial plaza in New Mexico, and for generations the heart of the village. Locals lived in a tight-knit community and gathered there to pick up mail, socialize, and celebrate religious and family events well into the twentieth century. Although economic forces pulled residents away and led to the plaza’s neglect and near-abandonment after World War II, the memory of the once-vibrant plaza remained vivid in the stories of village elders.

The first edition of Sabino’s Map, published in 1995, documented these oral histories and sparked interest in preserving and revitalizing the plaza. With the help of the Chimayó Cultural Preservation Association and its museum—once the home of the author’s ancestors on the old plaza––Chimayosos and their community have brought new life to the plaza over the last thirty years.

This landmark publication is considered a classic of New Mexico literature, alongside nonfiction works such as William deBuys’s Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range, Peggy Pond Church’s The House at Otowi Bridge, and Tony Hillerman’s The Spell of New Mexico.

Don J. Usner was born in Embudo, New Mexico, and raised in Los Alamos and Chimayó. A cultural historian, writer, and photographer, he has written and

contributed to numerous books on New Mexico, including Benigna’s Chimayó: Cuentos from the Plaza, Chasing Dichos through Chimayó, Valles Caldera: A New Vision for New Mexico’s National Preserve (with William deBuys), and ¡Órale! Lowrider: Custom Made in New Mexico. Usner is a founding board member of the Chimayó Cultural Preservation Association. He currently lives and works in Santa Fe.