The Museums of Taos, New Mexico: A Taos Unlimited Blog Series, Part 1

This will be the first of a series of blog entries about the museums in Taos and the surrounding area.

Kit Carson Home and Museum

In 1826, Christopher "Kit" Carson (1809-1868) arrived in Taos. Kit had run away from an apprenticeship in Missouri to join a wagon train heading west on the Santa Fe Trail. Thus began one of the most exciting careers in the American West.

Because of his remarkable facility for languages, Carson became a translator for a wagon train to Chihuahua. Shortly thereafter, he became a trapper and mountain man, traveling extensively throughout the West.

His real fame grew through serving as scout for the scientific and mapping expeditions of John C. Fremont. From 1854 until 1861, Carson served as an Indian Agent. He then began the final stage of his career as a military officer, first in the Civil War and later in the army campaigns of the Indian Wars.

The Kit Carson Home and Museum (which contains part of the original house Kit Carson bought in 1843 for his bride, Maria Josefa Jaramillo) is filled with frontier artifacts and exhibits illustrating Carson's life, as well as other items representing the Native American and Hispanic cultures in Northern New Mexico. It the house remained the couple’s permanent home until their deaths in 1868.

Visit the Taos, New Mexico Museums section on Taos Unlimited