This is the Santa Fe Plaza Obelisk in the plaza for that city.
The plaza has been there since 1609. The monument since 1868.
1868 seems like quite awhile ago for most of us, although in thinking on it there's less time between when I was born and 1868 than there now is between the start of World War One and the present day. Be that as it may, that certainly isn't as far back as 1609.
When we think of 1609, in North America, we tend to think of the east coast and early English colonist. But here, in 1609, the Spanish had established a presence in an area that was already settled, as this area was surrounded by Pueblo Indian communities.
I've posted a few other photos of old structures here recently, including the oldest house in the United States and the oldest church. Santa Fe, for that matter, is the oldest capital city in the US, having been the capital of Nuevo Mexico since 1610.
We think of settlement in the country as going from east to west. But that wasn't always the case. Here it had gone from south to north, sort of, if we don't consider too closely that the native inhabitants in this area built towns themselves.
And we tend not to think of how stable these communities were for a very long time. Towns and cities in the west seem to boom and bust, but down here some have simply endured in their rural settings. Major locations, although not with huge populations, that have proven very enduring.
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