Sunday, November 17, 2024

Los Luceros and Murder at the Hacienda

 


Two posts in one day!!!  I really am catching up!  Murder at the Hacienda, the 4th in my 1920s Santa Fe mysteries (w/a Amanda Allen) just came out, and I am so excited to get caught up with Maddie and her gang again.  I was also excited because it's one of my favorite mystery tropes--a locked-in, snowed-in whodunit.

It's also based on a real place, and estate about a hour's drive from my home in Santa Fe.  Unlike the house in my book, it's a beautiful, peaceful place, with a wonderfully restores hacienda and acres of pasture (sheep herds!  Apple orchards(, near the Rio Grande with lots of walking trails.





Los Luceros (run by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation) is a 148 acre estate north of the little town of Alcalde and east of the Rio Grande, and it has a very long history, long used by Native pueblos.  By the early 1700s, it was part of the Serrano Land Grant, one of the earliest sites of apple orchards in the area (which are still there!  At their harvest festival open house, you can taste their cider).  It consisted of the main hacienda, the fark, cottages, and a chapel.  By the early 20th century, it had fallen into disrepair until purchased by Boston heiress Mary Cabot Wheelwright (also of the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe), who restored it and made it a haven for artists of all sorts, especially for women.  When she died, it fell into neglect again, but is not wonderfully restored and a joy to tour.  (Look for the Olive  Rush murals on the fireplaces!  Rush is often a character in my novels).  It was the scene of many parties, and there are even a few ghost stories...




If you're ever in the area, be sure and stop by, look at the house and walk by the river!  And there's a wonderful bio of Wheelwright, Mary Wheelwright: Her Book by Leatrice Armstrong, and Wheelwright was also an author and historian in her own right

More info for your visit

Heroine of the Weekend: Millicent Rogers

I can't believe it's November already!  I just packed away the pumpkins and ghosties, and now it's almost Thanksgiving.  I just finished writing the 3rd in the "Matchmakers in Bath" series, and am taking a little, much-needed cleaning house and reading my TBR pile break.  


But I was so excited to see that a Sotheby's auction is coming up with some jewels once belonging to Millicent Rogers!  I first heard of this fascinating woman when I was a child, and my parents took me to the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, which is a gorgeous old home filled with her collections of Native weavings, jewelry, paintings, and so much more.  I even wrote a novel about her life (alas, not yet published), because she was so, so much more than a fashion icon and heiress.  She packed a lot of life into her brief 53 years. 

Millicent Rogers (1902-1953) was a Standard Oil heiress, an artist, a socialite and fashion icon, a renowned art collector, an activist for Native American civil rights, and still considered one of the most stylish and fascinating women of the 20th century. Though she had a short life, plagued by ill health after a childhood bout of rheumatic fever, it was a full and exciting one existence, lived in New York, Paris, Austria, Washington DC, Jamaica, and her final, true home in Taos, New Mexico. She was married three times, had three sons, and had love affairs with men like Ian Fleming and Clark Gable.  She was an advocate for Native American rights and a patron of the arts as well as a designer and creator of jewelry in her own right.  I hope one day you will see my story of her in print!  And I hope if you're in Taos, you'll visit her museum, and maybe say hello to her at the Sierra Vista Cemetery, where you can also find many members of the Taos Society of Artists and local characters.  It's a wonderful town, and I can see why she considered it her true home.



For more reading on her life:
Cheris Burns, Searching For Beauty and Diving for Starfish
Annette Tapert and Diane Edkins, The Power of Style (just a chapter on Rogers, but it's a wonderful book)
Arthur J. Bachrach, A Life in Full





Tuesday, October 08, 2024

Ghosts of New Mexico


 It's my favorite month of the year, October!!!  I love the cool mornings, the golden light, the golden aspens and chamisa here in New Mexico, apple cider, and especially Halloween.  I've always been fascinated by ghosties and fairies, and there are plenty here.

It also means next month I have TWO books coming out!  One is the fourth Amanda Allen 1920s mystery, Murder at the Hacienda.  Maddie, David, and their friends (and police inspector frenemy) are snowed in at a remote hacienda for Christmas, when, of course, there is a murder.  One of the people trapped there must be the killer, but which one??  And who will be next?

I based the setting on the real-life rancho, Los Luceros, which is located just outside Espanola and is now a museum/nature center (and a gorgeous place to visit, any time of year).  A bit of its history, according to Atlas Obscura:


Nearly 1,000 years ago, the unassuming spot next to the Rio Grande River was home to the ancestors of today’s Tewa residents of Ohkey Owingeh Pueblo (meaning “Place of the Strong Ones”). The ancient pueblo, Po’yege, is an archaeological site now, but the legacy of the Strong Ones lives on. The people of Ohkey Owingeh, located just downriver from Los Luceros, was one of the first sites to resist Spanish colonization and cruelty in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. (The Pueblo is the only one with a stone Catholic Church (others are adobe or wood) because the Strong Ones burned it three times.)


At the time of the Revolt, Los Luceros was part of the Sebastian Martin Serrano land grant. The original hacienda, encased inside the 19th-century renovations, dates to the 1700s. It is one of the earliest sites in the Spanish colony where apple trees were planted. There are over 1,000 trees still on the property. 

The Ortiz family, who owned the property in the 1800s expanded the Hacienda and constructed the present capilla, or chapel, onsite. It is still owned by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

In the early decades of the 20th century, the site had fallen into ruin and was part of a larger dude ranch. But a wealthy Bostonian, Mary Cabot Wheelwright, came west after the deaths of her parents. She fell in love with the site, purchased it, and had it restored. Hiring noted artist Olive Rush to paint murals on the kiva fireplaces. While spending time at Los Luceros, Wheelwright met two-spirit Dine weaver Hasteen (or Hastiin) Klah. She and Klah collected Native arts from throughout New Mexico, creating the original collection for what would become the Wheelwright Museum.


Marie Chabot, a young woman seeking her place in the world, came to New Mexico from San Antonio, Texas. She was working as a magazine writer. Chabot found her way to Los Luceros where Wheelwright was hosting gatherings of “New Women” like Georgia O’Keeffe, Mabel Dodge Lujan, Carol Stanley, and others. Chabot stayed on, living for a while in the Hacienda and, later, in a nearby casita. Chabot inherited Los Luceros upon Wheelwright’s death. She would go on to have a relationship with O’Keeffe. In those days, they would have been referred to as having “Boston marriages.”

The site is a hidden gem with a deep and complex history. More than one ghost story has been told about the hacienda. If you don’t come for the history or the ghosts, then definitely come for the flock of Churro sheep that graze out back. 

And, of course, it has ghosts!  Apparently, there was a 1998 TV show called "Hauntings in America" that featured the property (before restoration, and in bad condition), but which was mostly untrue legends about hanging trees and women pushed down stairs.  There ARE many reports of windows and trap doors opening and closing by themselves, women crying, sounds of a party, etc, all to be expected in such an old property.  I was able to incorporate some ghostly tales in Maddie's Christmas visit!  Stay tuned all this month for more Santa Fe ghost stories here on this blog...

A few links to info about Los Luceros:

New Mexico Historic Sites (with visiting info)

"Love and Hate at Los Luceros"

The Accidental Angel

Paranormal Claims at Los Luceros


Tuesday, September 03, 2024

Fiestas!


 This past weekend started off the annual Fiestas here in Santa Fe, with the burning of Zozobra!  It's a unique local tradition, with a fascinating history I loved using in Death Comes to Santa Fe, and I love how it signals the beginning of autumn.  Here's some info from the book:


Fiesta has its origins in 1692, when the Spanish who were driven out by the Pueblo Revolt twelve years before, returned, led by Don Diego de Vargas. In 1712, the Spanish governor of the province proclaimed a religious commemoration of those events, where there were Masses, processions, and family dinners. This didn’t change for many years, and in fact had much lapsed by the 1760s.

In 1912, the Chamber of Commerce thought Fiesta ready for a revival—as a commercial scheme. They organized events that often didn’t have much to do with New Mexico, and charged entry fees which shut out many locals and was meant to draw more tourists to the new state. In the 1920s, a group of artists, led by Will Shuster, protested this and organized their own “El Pasatiempo,” complete with many of the events we have now—parades, dances, and especially Zozobra! (There are still traditional events, as well, such a Novenas and Masses, and the procession of La Conquistadora, a wooden figure of The Virgin Mary brought to Santa Fe in 1692 and now housed in the Cathedral).


Will Shuster was one of the great characters of Santa Fe in the twentieth century! Born in Pennsylvania in 1893, he came to New Mexico with his wife in 1920 for his health (he was gassed in World War I) and to pursue his dreams of being an artist. His natural gregariousness and creativity made him a leader, especially among a group who lived near him called Los Cinco Pintores (or “five little nuts in five mud huts,” as some wags called them!). He was constantly throwing parties, organizing events, getting into scrapes. One of his most enduring parties is Zozobra, or “Old Man Gloom.” Made of wool, wire, and cotton cloth, he now reaches 50 feet high and his burning is attended by around 70,000 people, who crowd into a park to contribute their “glooms” (anxieties or bad events, written on slips of paper to be packed in and around the giant marionette). In 1924, Zozobra was only about 6 feet high, a puppet in Shuster’s garden to amuse his artist friends. As far as I know, there were no body parts found in the ashes that year! By 1926, he realized it was a popular thing and moved to a park for others to see. On Shuster’s death in 1969, he left the rights to Zozobra’s party to the Kiwanis Club, and it’s run every year as a charitable fundraiser (and gloom-burner).

The White sisters, Elizabeth and Martha, were also real figures in 1920s Santa Fe! The college-educated daughters of a wealthy Pennsylvania newspaper magnate, they were on a cross-country trip to California after the War (where Elizabeth served as a nurse), and decided to stay in Santa Fe, where they built their large compound “El Delirio” (named after their favorite bar in Seville, Spain!). Elizabeth lived a long, energetic life as a patron of the arts, breeder of Irish wolfhounds (she liked to march them in the Fiesta parades!), and Native American rights activist. Their home is now the School of Advanced Research, and has a wonderful library where I’ve done much research! They were the first home in town to have a tennis court and swimming pool, and the party to inagurate the pool was a real event! (Complete with poem by Witter Bynner, another of the great characters of Santa Fe!)

A few sources I’ve found very helpful are:

--Joseph Dispenza and Louise Turner, Will Shuster: A Santa Fe Legend (1989)

--Edna Robertson, Los Cinco Pintores (1975)

--Jennifer Owings Dewey, Zozobra: The Story of Old Man Gloom

--Gregor Stark and E. Catherine Rayne, El Delirio: The Santa Fe World of Elizabeth White (1998)

--Stacia Lewandowski, Light, Landscape, and the Creative Quest: Early Artists of Santa Fe (2011)

--Van Deren Coke, Taos and Santa Fe: The Artists’ Environment 1882-1942 (1963)

--Edna Robertson, Artists of the Canyons and Caminos (2006, reprint)


Saturday, June 22, 2024

Weekend Links

 


Happy (just past) longest day of the year!  Be sure and check out my giveaway post, and here's a few things to read...








2000 year old Roman face cream

A "Debo" Devonshire fashion collection from Erdem!

Must-see films that celebrate Paris

Much Ado About First Folios

Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815

8 Ways to create your own Bridgerton inspired garden

RIP Donald Sutherland

Contest time!

 We just moved in at our new house in January, and I am finding sooo many hidden treasures!  So let's have a giveaway.  There are several Ausen movie DVDs (plus one P&P 2005 poster I found at a yard sale!  Just a bit creased).  I have several of my own titles, autographed, and a bio of Princess Margaret.


More contests to come!

Just sign up to join my rarely-sent newsletter (I'm lazy, but they do have info on upcoming releases, historical tidbits, contests) at my website.  (You'll also receive a free 1920s novella, "The Girl in the Beaded Mask"!  If you're already subscribed, you're automatically entered)


Thanks so much for helping me clean out the new house!!!









Saturday, June 15, 2024

The lives of Regency vicar's daughters

 I have a few blog posts left over from a tour I had when The Earl's Cinderella Countess was released!  This one was lots of fun--a bit of discussion on the lives of vicars' daughters....



The question I was asked is—what was life like for a vicar’s daughter in the Regency? Since I am a research junkie, I love this question! Eleanor (Ella) and her sister Mary (who will be the heroine of the next book in the series!) are in a slightly different situation, since their mother died when they were young and Ella took over many of the responsibilities of the vicarage. When I first started this book, my knowledge of clergy life in the 18th/early 19th century was mostly from Charlotte Lucas (ewww, Mr. Collins! But she did seem to enjoy the job itself, having her own house and helping parishioners), and Mrs. Elton from Emma, who didn’t seem to do much besides be snobby and form musical societies. (Plus the Brontes, of course, though Patrick Bronte’s parish was very different from that of the St. Aubins’ father in my book, since Haworth was poor and industrial). So I enjoyed diving into it all a bit more.

A vicar’s wife would, like most women of the time, keep her household. If her husband had a good living (like Mr. Collins, thanks to Lady Catherine de Bourgh!), it could be quite substantial, with a rather large staff, a nice garden, chances to entertain. If it was poorer, like the Brontes, she might take on some of the more menial chores herself, but this was a position of respect and authority in the neighborhood. The wife (or, in my story, daughter) of the vicar would visit the poor and sick, counsel with them, bring them hampers, coo over new babies, witness weddings, keep her husband apprised of what’s going on with parishoners. She would also attend parties, charm the local gentry, organize church events like fetes, the flower roster, childrens’ activities. It was a big job!

Ella St. Aubin has been in love with Frederick Fleetwood, the younger son of their neighbor the Earl, since they were children, but never expected that she, the daughter of a vicar (who probably owes his living to Fred’s father!) could marry him. And she has to take over her mother’s role in housekeeping and parish duties, as well as looking after her younger sister, so is kept busy while Fred goes into the Army. Things change when they grow up, though!

Amanda Vickery’s The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England is a great source for more about women’s roles in the period! It’s a fascinating time….

Weekend Links

 


Happy June, everyone!  It's getting warmer here, and my tomatoes are finally growing in their new garden beds, yay.  I also have at least 3 books in process, so am wanting to tear out my hair and procrastinate by organizing shelves.  So here's some distractions for today!






The Worst Dads in Literature (Happy Father's Day, everyone!)

Are There Still Mysteries in Pari

Francoise Hardy's French Girl Style

Six Lives

A new adaptation of "The Decameron"

How French winemakers outwitted the Nazis

The Lemon Drop is this summer's "it" cocktail

Obsolete occupations from the Middle Ages

Sunday, May 05, 2024

Weekend Links

 


I can't believe it's already May!!!  Where did all of April go?  Probably in writing--I'm finishing up edits for Their Convenient Christmas Betrothal (out in November!) and the next 1920s mystery.  (also starting a fun, just for me project...), but I'm so excited to see lilacs blooming and trees turning green at last.  How is the season where you are???


In the meantime, here's some fun reads...






"Liberty Leading the People" returns to the Louvre after restoration

Artists to know from the SWAIA Native Fashion Week

Lavinia Fontana portrait joins museum collection

What is Beltane?

CJ Sansom, "Shardlake" author, dies (this is so sad!  I love these books, and the TV series is just now dropping)

Queen Mary of Denmark debuts a stunning emerald tiara

American IT girls in Paris, a century ago

A life-size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry

Hooray, time for summer clothes!  And sales

Saturday, April 06, 2024

Weekend Links


 Happy April!!!  I was wearing a cotton dress yesterday--then it snowed today.  But I am so excited spring is in the air, flowers are appearing, and soon it will be outdoor concert season.  What are you looking forward to this summer???  

And here's some things to read...








First of all--I have a new book out now!!  You can read an interview with "Ella," the heroine of my The Earl's Cinderella Countess here

A sneak peek at Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light coming to PBS (I can't wait!)

Some rare Sylvia Plath ephemera

Time to embrace the "bad mug" (I admit, I am a mug addict...)

10 overlooked medieval women

Artist Agnes Martin on art and solitude

Agatha Christie artifacts at Cambridge