Category: Stories in Stone Blog

Stone in Santa Fe: Part 1

Although Santa Fe is known for its signature stucco architecture, the diligent stone seeker can find rock-clad buildings. Two buildings stand out: the Santiago E. Campos United States Courthouse and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Both use local stone and both are quite handsome structures. I will focus on the Courthouse today and follow up later this week on the Cathedral, which will require two reports.

Construction on the Courthouse began in 1853 and on what was intended to become the territorial capitol. Initial plans called for “lime stone” though a letter written in 1853 by the Commissioners of Public Lands, noted “No building of like description or of like materials has ever been attempted here…[Yet] in May last when the Commissioners desired to commence the Masonry of the building not a single Stone Mason could be found in the Territory.” This dearth of qualified local masons led to the contractor “borrowing” soldiers from the US military, who did have experience with stone.

Like many other public structures around the United States in middle 1800s, the Courthouse is classic Greek Revival style. The rough cut limestone was quarried in the Sangre de Cristos mountains, about eight miles from Santa Fe, in what is now Hyde Memorial State Park. Quoins and lintels came from Cerrillos, about 20 miles southwest of Santa Fe. Wagons and pack animals provided the only means of transporting the stone. A lack of money and masons, as well as the advent of the Civil War, eventually conspired to halt construction.

Santa Fe’s Tertio-Millennial Celebration in 1883, which commemorated the city’s founding 333 years earlier, did lead to a temporary roof but further construction did not begin in earnest again until 1888. By this time competent masons had moved to Santa Fe and they finished the courthouse the following year. The building, however, never served its original purpose as a state house.

To reach the Courthouse, head north out of the Plaza on Lincoln Ave, which dead ends at the building. You can also see an addition, tacked on in 1929-1930. More information can be found in the following paper, which provided many of the details I used.

Two Fine Books of Science

As we enter the critical book buying season (hint-hint), I would like to recommend two recent books. Both focus on science and even better perfectly complement each other. They would make a nice pair of presents for anyone interested in understanding science and the passions that drive scientists. The books are Darwin’s Armada: Four Voyages and the Battle for the Theory of Evolution by Iain McCalman and The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes. Holmes’ book came out in 2008 and McCalman’s in 2009.

Dense, yet readable, Age of Wonder focuses on what Holmes calls the second scientific revolution, inspired by novel developments in astronomy and chemistry. (The first revolution centered around Newton.) Holmes book ends his period around two legendary voyages: James Cooks’ round-the-world expedition started in 1768 and Charles Darwin’s voyage in the HMS Beagle, which ended in 1836. It was a period of brilliant insights, dangerous experimentation with electricity and nasty chemicals, and lone scientists devoted to pushing the frontiers of their subjects.

Holmes does an excellent job of detailing the lives of his vast cast of characters, which ranges from chemist Humphry Davy to astronomer William Herschel to novelist Mary Shelley to explorer Mungo Park (what a cool name to have!). In presenting Herschel and his work, Holmes clearly shows how Herschel, the man who found Uranus (the first planet discovered in more than 1,000 years), couldn’t have succeeded without his equally talented sister Caroline. Davy also stands out for his work with laughing gas, development of a safe, underground mining lamp, and popular lectures on science, which drew hundreds. In addition, Holmes interfingers the science with poetry through the work of Samuel Coleridge and William Wordsworth.

Coincidentally, Darwin’s Armada picks up exactly where Age of Wonder stops. McCalman details the formative voyages and expeditions of Darwin, botanist Joseph Hooker, Thomas Huxley, and Alfred Russell Wallace. Less dense and a bit lighter in tone, Armada shows how their work in the southern hemisphere shaped each man’s understanding of science and the natural world and in turn led them down the paths to insights into evolution. And once on those paths, these four men were the prime movers in discussing, debating, and fleshing out natural selection. McCalman also shows how the four became deep friends who helped each other through scientific, family, and financial challenges.

In reading each of these books, I was constantly amazed to see the excitement of new discoveries but also the dangers of working with new materials and visiting wild places. It is a wonder at times that any of the great scientists discussed here didn’t die young. We are fortunate they didn’t and fortunate that they come to life in the pages of these two fine books.