Madrid and the Turquoise Trail

A Company Coal Town On NM Highway 14 That Was Abandoned In The 1950s, Bought Whole And Resettled By Artists From The 1970s; The Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway Runs 50 Miles Between Albuquerque And Santa Fe Through It · Madrid, New Mexico

Madrid dug coal from the 1860s and by the 1920s was a company town of three thousand people with a company store, a baseball park lit for night games before most major league stadiums were, and a Christmas light display that airlines detoured over. The mine closed in the 1950s and the whole town was put up for sale as a single lot; nobody bought it for years. From the early 1970s artists took the houses cheaply, and what is there now is about three hundred people living in restored miners' cabins along a quarter-mile of highway, with galleries, a tavern in the old company saloon, and the mine buildings still standing at the south end. It sits halfway along the Turquoise Trail, fifty miles of NM 14 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe that is far better than the interstate and takes only about half an hour longer. The one practical problem is that a substantial number of the galleries close on Mondays and Tuesdays, so a midweek visit can find half the village shut. Cerrillos, a few miles north, is quieter and much less restored.

2846 NM Highway 14, Madrid, Madrid, New Mexico, 87010, United States

The village and the highway through it are public and open at all hours. The shops and galleries are individually owned and keep their own hours, generally late morning to late afternoon, and a substantial number close on Mondays and Tuesdays - this is the main practical problem with visiting. Weekends are when everything is open. The Mine Shaft Tavern serves through the day and has live music at weekends. The coal mine museum keeps seasonal hours.

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