History

Your Subtitle text

"There is a chapel of Our Lady of the Conception in this place, Don Juan Gonzales built it years ago with permission from the ordinary, and later Lord Bishop Tamaron ratified it for the son of the aforesaid, named Alejandro Gonzales Baz who left the license to his son, Gasper Gonzales, when he died."

So begins the history of the present Old House as related by Fray Francisco Atanasio Dominquez in his "Missions of New Mexico" ~ 1776.

This report also states that Upper Corrales, the location of the old house, was occupied by 10 families totaling 42 people.

It is probable, Cora Headington writes in her Los Corrales, "According to records in the church of San Felipe De Neri in Old Albuquerque, that houses were built in the valley in 1706, on January 12, 1710, the Alameda Land Grant, containing the site of Corrales, was made to Corporal Francisco Montes Vigil. After a year or more, he sold the grant to Captain Juan Gonzales."

Gonzales sold a portion of the land, including the Old House to Salvador Martinez in 1718. Little is recorded of Corrales during the first 150 years of Spanish occupation. After the American occupation in 1812 the house was the scene of the itinerant court until the Perea House was built. It was also the headquarters of the cavalry that came from Albuquerque and Santa Fe to provide protection from the Indians.

After the American occupation in 1812 the house was the scene of the itinerant court until the Perea House was built. It was also the headquarters of the cavalry that came from Albuquerque and Santa Fe to provide protection from the Indians.

Since the early 1970's, the reputation of the property for good company and good food has spread far and wide. Although owned by several different people and serving many different culinary styles, was known as Casa Vieja fore over thirty years.

Since 2005, Rebecca Carter, from Cambridge England, has taken the Old House to the next chapter of culinary delights. Yet it retains all its village friendliness, its ancient timbers stepped in 300 years of hospitality.