Things to do & places to visit in Dona Ana, New Mexico, United States

Dona Ana city in New Mexico, United States. Timezone: America/Denver, current date and time: Thursday, May 02, 2024, 10:07.

Top things to do

• Neighborhoods
• Historic Sites

Top places to visit

1. Doña Ana Village (0 review)
   Historic Sites • Neighborhoods
   
   
   In the spring of 1843, 14 of the grant petitioners mustered the courage to risk Indian attack and move to Doña Ana. They situated the village on a plateau high above the floodplain, and after digging a diversion dam and a system of acequias (irrigation ditches), they constructed the community according to the traditional Spanish-Mexican village plan. Streets were laid out in 35-foot grids of 137-square-foot lots. Ultimately, many of these lots were subdivided, giving Doña Ana its shape as a grid of rectangular blocks. Doña Ana’s first homes and buildings were along the plateau’s edge arranged as a cordillera, or linear village, which followed the path of irrigated lands. One-room, flat-roofed adobe houses were built shoulder to shoulder, some of them connected, alongside the corridor of El Camino Real. The houses abutted the street edge with windowless facades and heavily fortified doors, their unbroken lines forming substantial walls of defense. Exterior walls extended the buildings to the rear to form open-air courtyards. As families grew, rooms were added one at a time, often taking an L-shaped turn when reaching a corner or a lot line. Doña Ana’s social and spiritual hub emerged at its northwest end. The Catholic Church of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria (Our Lady of Candelaria), also known as Nuestra Señora de la Purificación (Our Lady of Purification), was constructed in stages beginning in 1852. Melding Spanish, Mexican and New Mexican architectural elements, the adobe cruciform church rises three times taller than its neighboring buildings and features a flat roof, wood vigas (ceiling beams) and a clerestory window at the transept. Redbrick cornices, parapet walls and a concrete bell tower were added in the early 1900s. With slow but steady growth, Doña Ana led the long-awaited development of southern New Mexico. The only town on either side of the dreaded 90-mile Jornada del Muerto (Journey of the Dead Man), Doña Ana was an essential stop for travelers ... See more..