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Kate Nelson
Author
Kate Nelson

Kate Nelson has been discovering New Mexico’s stories, towns and restaurants since 1989 as a Midwestern transplant. The longtime reporter, television host, book author, and former managing editor of New Mexico Magazine. In 2023, she gave up that final post for a retirement that, she says, “mixes a bit of freelance writing with a whole lot of hiking and gardening,” plus plenty of excursions.

Writing the Trail

What compelled you to write this book? There were so many points of entry for me to study the women of the Santa Fe Trail. I have lived along the Santa Fe Trail and have been the chief executive of…

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The String Family

MOST JAZZ MUSICIANS PREFER A double bass with a sprightly pizzicato tone. But Charlie Haden chose a model made around 1843 in France by the renowned J.B. Vuillaume, one of only three known to exist…

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To See and to Suffer

FROM THE INTERIOR of the dome atop Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, an image of Jesus gazes upon me. Rendered in desert-washed jewel tones highlighted with glints of gold leaf, he looms larger than the…

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Unearth the Wonders of Portales

THE PLAINS OF EASTERN NEW MEXICO begin bending into gentle hills and folds—grass-coated dunes, some of which are still “actively migrating,” says Brendon Asher. The archaeologist and director of the…

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Take a Spin to See the Roto-Sphere

WHEN IT WORKED, the Roto-Sphere above the El Comedor de Anayas restaurant, in Moriarty, lured hungry motorists off I-40 and onto Old Route 66. Neon lights lined its 16 colorful spikes. The ball they…

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A Brief Timeline of Native History

850: First great houses built at Pueblo Bonito and Una Vida in Chaco Canyon. 1050: Chaco culture reaches its height. 1068–1072: First Chacoan structures built at what is now called Salmon Ruins. 1105:…

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Ancient Enigmas

IN THE 17TH CENTURY, the Four Corners region turned cruel. Chaco’s Ancestral Puebloan people had fled three centuries earlier, their elaborate social structure abandoned as the culture’s various…

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Cultural Vocabulary Lesson

Navajo people use the name Diné to describe themselves. The Bureau of Land Management area with Navajo defensive sites is called the Dinétah by archaeologists. In the Diné language, Dinétah refers…

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