Today we went with Clayton & Pat up Sandia Mountain overlooking Albuquerque then continued up the Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe. Here's Judy trying to stay warm in the cold wind on top of Sandia; 10,600 feet up. You can't see downtown Albuquerque which is about 20 miles west behind Judy but I did zoom in on it for the next pic. We took a trolley ride through Old Santa Fe to see the sites, as you can see it was chilly at 7000 feet up. All the buildings are adobe which was interesting. Here's a couple pics of Santa Fe which had over 200 art studios, if you are into art this is the place for you! All the stairs in one pic lead to the NM state capitol building. We visited the famous Loretto spiral staircase you can see inside the chapel. (It is not the larger church which is pictured from the outside.) The story goes that in 1872 the chapel was built for the Sisters of Loretto but the builder died before it was completed and they discovered there was no way to get to the choir loft 20 feet up. The sisters were told the chapel was small and there was no way to construct any kind of stairs to the choir loft. Needing a way to get up to the choir loft the nuns prayed for St. Joseph's intercession for nine straight days. On the day after their novena ended a shabby looking stranger appeared at their door. He told the nuns he would build them a staircase but that he needed total privacy and locked himself in the chapel for three months. He used a small number of primitive tools including a square, a saw and some warm water and constructed a spiral staircase entirely of non-native wood. The identity of the carpenter is not known for as soon as the staircase was finally finished he was gone. Many witnesses, upon seeing the staircase, feel it was a miraculous occurrence.
The resulting staircase is an impressive work of carpentry. It ascends twenty feet, making two complete revolutions up to the choir loft without the use of nails or apparent center support. It has been surmised that the central spiral of the staircase is narrow enough to serve as a central beam. Nonetheless there was no attachment unto any wall or pole in the original stairway, although in 1887 -- 10 years after it was built -- a railing was added and the outer spiral was fastened to an adjacent pillar. Instead of metal nails, the staircase was constructed using dowels or wooden pegs. The wood for the staircase cannot be found anywhere in the region. The stairs had 33 steps, the age of Jesus when he died.
The mystery had never been satisfactorily solved as to who the carpenter was or where he got his lumber, since there were no reports of anyone seeing lumber delivered or even seeing the man come and go while the construction was being done. Since he left before the Mother Superior could pay him, the Sisters of Lorett0 offered a reward for the identity of the man, but it was never claimed.
The mystery had never been satisfactorily solved as to who the carpenter was or where he got his lumber, since there were no reports of anyone seeing lumber delivered or even seeing the man come and go while the construction was being done. Since he left before the Mother Superior could pay him, the Sisters of Lorett0 offered a reward for the identity of the man, but it was never claimed.
