The Kit Carson Home and Museum in Taos was once the home of famous frontiersman, Kit Carson, and his family and operates as a house museum dedicated to showcasing the life and times on the frontier in the early 1800s.
History
Built in circa 1825 and located just one block from Taos Plaza in the heart of Taos, The Kit Carson Home is a beautiful example of regional and Spanish Colonial architecture with two-foot-thick adobe walls and a sunny courtyard. The four-room house was bought by Carson as a wedding gift for his third wife in 1943 and was inhabited by the family for the next 42 years. Operated by the Taos Masonic Lodge, The Kit Carson Home and Museum is a registered National Historic Landmark, one of only 46 in the entire State of New Mexico.
Still situated on its original footprint at 113 Kit Carson Road in Taos, The Kit Carson Home and Museum has been beautifully restored to its former glory with the building retaining the home’s original façade and historical footprint. The house’s interiors and courtyard are much the same way as they were when the Carson family lived in the house with an adobe-style baking oven called a horno, a drying rack and other artifacts from the mid-19th century.
Collection
The Kit Carson Home and Museum’s collection features many of the family’s possessions that were left behind in the house when Kit and his wife, Josefa left for Fort Garland in 1866. Artifacts include Carson’s U.S. Army Civil War saber and scabbard, a replica of his .50 caliber Hawkins rifle, a sewing kit with a red silk lining that belonged to Josefa, Carson’s Masonic hat, and several traditional farm tools. Flying over the entry portal of the house is a territorial flag dating back to 1862.
113 Kit Carson Road, Taos, NM 87571, Phone: 575-758-4945
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