Taos Plaza

The plaza the Spanish built here dates to the late 18th century, when the Don Fernando de Taos Land Grant was ceded to settlers from the Taos Pueblo in 1796. It survived the fires that took older buildings around it, survived Southern sympathizers who tore down its American flag during the Civil War — Congress eventually authorized it to fly that flag around the clock, a right it still holds. Taos County owns and manages it today. The gazebo, the adobe storefronts, the benches under shade trees: this is still the center of town.