About the Abiquiu Area

“It is not a country of light on things -it is a country of things in light.”
Georgia O’Keeffe

About 60 miles north of Santa Fe, Abiquiu and surrounding communities of El Rito, Gallina, Ojo Caliente and Chama to the north are some of the most beautiful landscapes New Mexico has to offer. Celebrated artist Georgia O’Keeffe lived at nearby Ghost Ranch for many years and also bought a house in Abiquiu in 1945, using it variously as an art subject, residence and studio for several years.

Nearby is the Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert. This beautiful old Roman Catholic monastery is reached by a rough dirt road, accessible in dry weather only.

Ojo Caliente is a small community northeast of Abiquiu. Generations continue to make the pilgrimage to Ojo Caliente to enjoy the unique combination of mineral waters: Lithia, Iron, Soda and Arsenic. Ojo Caliente is a legendary oasis healing body, mind, and spirit naturally for countless centuries.

El Rito is a village northwest of Ojo Caliente and was one of the first Spanish settlements in northern New Mexico and boasts the oldest church in New Mexico, restored in the 1980s. It is the home of the Carson National Forest Service – El Rito Ranger District, the El Rito Public Library, the Las Clinicas del Norte, and a campus of Northern New Mexico College. Originally named El Rito Colorado, the red creek, it took its name from the creek that passes through the village. Tewas call the El Rito region “pink below place” for the El Rito Mountains, known to them as the pink mountains. El Rito is surrounded by the Carson National Forest. El Rito also has an annual Artist Studio Tour.

Chama Village is located in the beautiful Northern New Mexico Rocky Mountains and is the western terminus of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, a steam-driven, narrow gauge heritage railway which carries visitors to and from Osier, Colorado, and Antonito, Colorado, during the summer months.