Los Alamos in Los Alamos County, New Mexico — The American Mountains (Southwest)
The Romero Cabin
Los Alamos Historical Society
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, May 24, 2015
1. The Romero Cabin Marker
This rough-hewn cabin has become the symbol of Hispanic homesteading on the Pajarito Plateau. It is one of the last examples of a homestead cabin of its type on the plateau; most other homesteading properties were destroyed in the Cerro Grande Fire of May 2000.
The Romeros lived in this cabin during the growing and stock-raising season, returning to their home in the Rio Grande Valley in winter. Some time before 1938, the family stopped spending their summers on the plateau but continued to use the fields sporadically for pasturage. In 1943, the federal government claimed the site for the Manhattan Project.
Erected by Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Topics. This historical marker
this page online
Location. Marker has been permanently removed. It was located near 35° 52.962′ N, 106° 18.088′ W. Marker was in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in Los Alamos County. It could be reached from Juniper Street just west of 19th Street. Marker is located along the walkway just north of the Los Alamos Historical Museum. Touch for map. Marker was at or near this postal address: 2132 Central Avenue, Los Alamos NM 87544, United States of America.
We have been informed that this marker is no longer there and will not be replaced. This page is an archival view of what was.
Regionally, this marker was in Northern New Mexico. It was also in the American Southwest. Globally, it was in North America, the Rocky Mountains, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it found itself in what was once New Spain.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this location: Five Eras of History (here, next to this marker); Fire Cache (here, next to this marker); a different marker also named Romero Cabin (here, next to this marker); Ancestral Pueblo Site (within shouting distance of this marker); The Big House (within shouting distance of this
2. Marker detail: Aerial Photograph, 1946
The Romero and adjacent homesteads, shown in this 1946 aerial photograph, lay abandoned immediately after the government acquired the land in 1943 but eventually became part of the site of the Laboratory's main plutonium facility at Technical Area 55. The dirt road became present-day Pajarito Road.
Other markers no longer nearby. Homesteading on the Pajarito Plateau, 1887-1942 (was here, next to this marker but has been permanently removed); Harold H. Brook (was a few steps from this marker but has been permanently removed); Albert J. Connell (was a few steps from this marker but has been permanently removed); Martha Brook (was a few steps from this marker but has been permanently removed); William Mackwood Hopper (was a few steps from this marker but has been permanently removed).
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. Los Alamos Historical Walking Tour
Also see . . .
1. The Homesteaders of Los Alamos. New Mexico was admitted to the United States as the forty-seventh state in 1912. The next year, homesteaders Victor and Refugio Romero built a cabin at Los Alamos. On their fifteen-acre farm, the Romeros planted
3. Marker detail: Romero Homestead Sketch
This sketch shows the layout of the Romero homestead. The cabin's simple furnishings included a bed and a wood-burning stove. The children slept on a porch on the north side of the cabin. The family used a horse-drawn sled to haul water in barrels from a spring in a nearby canyon.
2. A Brief History of Romero Cabin. Water was not readily available on the mesa top and was hauled up in barrels from the bottom of a nearby canyon. Many of the Hispano homestead families on the Pajarito Plateau were related by marriage and there was a network of trails that connected the neighboring properties, often leading from mesa to mesa. (Submitted on September 25, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
4. Marker detail: Anchor Ranch Bean Fields
Although the Romeros planted vegetables in a kitchen garden by the cabin, most of their acreage was devoted to cash crops — corn and beans. During the First World War, New Mexico farmers shipped tons of beans for the war effort. Shown here are bean fields at Anchor Ranch west of the Romero homestead.
5. Marker detail: David and Francisquita Romero
David and Francisquita Romero were Victor Romero's parents and his immediate neighbors. Homesteading was a difficult undertaking on the arid Pajarito Plateau, where dry farming had to be practiced. Extended families often shared the work in the loosely communal life of the plateau.
6. Marker detail: Bences Gonzales
In the 1930s, Victor Romero's son-in-law, Bences Gonzales (left), helped rebuild the Romero cabin from the ground up. The cabin's shed roof design is representative of Hispanic architecture in Northern New Mexico. Flat and low-pitched roofs were also common on the plateau. Compare the roofing style of the Romero cabin with that of the cabin (right) built by the Duran family, relations of the Romeros who lived just west of Victor Romero's homestead.
7. Marker detail: Romero Cabin Sketch
Compare this drawing of the Romero cabin at its original location with the restoration in front of you. Rotten timbers have been replaced with new logs; notching styles have been replicated to retain the character of the cabin's original design and workmanship.
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, May 24, 2015
8. The Romero Cabin Marker
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, May 24, 2015
9. The Romero Cabin
Photographed by James Hulse, March 25, 2025
10. The original markers have been removed and replaced with different markers along the trail
Credits. This page was last revised on April 7, 2025. It was originally submitted on September 21, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 536 times since then and 29 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on September 24, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. submitted on September 25, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. 10. submitted on April 7, 2025, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.
