City: Santa Fe, NM

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (505) 842-4400

Description: Patron saint: San Juan (St. John the Baptist). Feast day: June 24.Located 26 miles northwest of Santa Fe along the Río Grande, Oke Owingeh or Ohkay Owingey (formerly known as San Juan Pueblo) is the largest of all the northern pueblos, with 2,500 members and a total population of about 5,300 people. Tribal members share complex and closely guarded social and belief systems based on their traditional clan system.The tribe’s 12,238-acre pueblo sits across the Río Grande from Yunque, the original San Juan Pueblo. In 1598 it was chosen by the Spanish colonists as the site of the first Spanish settlement in New Mexico and renamed San Gabriel. San Juan was also the birthplace of Popé, the man credited with organizing the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 that succeeded in banishing the Spanish from the region for 12 years. San Juan has retained a reputation for leadership among Tewa-speaking people, hence its name, Oke Owingeh, “Place of the Strong People.” The pueblo is home to the offices of the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council (see earlier entry) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Northern Pueblos Agency.San Juan’s two central plazas feature rectangular kivas. To the west of the plaza area stands St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, a redbrick building facing Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel, which was built from volcanic rock. Among the pueblo’s natural attractions are tribal lakes, a recreation area, and a herd of buffalo, which may be viewed by reservation only. The tribe’s Tsay Corporation reopened the Ohkay Casino-Resort, which offers gambling and 100 hotel rooms run by Best Western chain. Those who prefer sleeping a little closer to the great outdoors can stay in the pueblo’s top-rated 84-site RV park next to the San Juan Lakes (505-753-5067). Tsay Corporation also operates the Harvest Cafe, located in the casino; the Oke Owingeh Arts and Crafts Cooperative, which displays and sells the pueblo’s distinctive red pottery along with wood and stone carvings, weavings, paintings, and jewelry; the Ohkay T’owa Gardens Cooperative, which grows and processes traditional native food products under the Harvest Foods label; a construction company; and a cabinet shop. The tribe’s newest venture is the Ohkay Sporting Clays Club. Directions from Santa Fe: Take US 84/285 north 24.3 miles to the junction with Highway 68 in Española; head 4 miles north on Highway 68 to the junction with SR 74. Go 1 mile west on SR 74.