Santa Fe Plaza

Before the United States existed, before Mexico, before New Spain fully consolidated its hold on the continent, there was this plaza. Santa Fe was founded in 1610 as the capital of Nuevo México, and the Plaza has been the center of civic life since. The Palace of the Governors stands adjacent, the original seat of territorial government through Spanish, Mexican, and American rule. Three national historic trails — El Camino Real, the Old Spanish Trail, and the Santa Fe National Historic Trail — terminate here. That accumulation is not incidental. It is the point.