Taos, town, seat of Taos county, New Mexico, U.S. It lies on a branch of the Rio Grande in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, near Wheeler Peak, the highest point in New Mexico, 55 miles (89 km) north-northeast of Santa Fe. The name comes from the Spanish rendering of Tiwa, the name of the indigenous Pueblo people. An early Spanish settlement, Taos was the scene of the so-called Pueblo Rebellion (1680) against Spain. The Taos Trail was a branch of the Santa Fe Trail, and the town became an important trading centre. In 1847 Charles Bent, the U.S. civil governor of the province of New Mexico, was killed in Taos during an Indian uprising.
The community is a service centre for nearby ranches and actually consists of three villages: Don Fernando (also Fernandez) de Taos (known as Taos), the pueblo of San Geronimo (Taos Pueblo), and the Ranchos de Taos; Taos Pueblo’s adobe settlement was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1992. With its picturesque adobe architecture, Taos was given impetus as a resort colony for writers and painters by Mabel Dodge Luhan, a wealthy patron of the arts whose home became a centre for visiting artists, such as Ansel Adams, Marsden Hartley, Alfred Stieglitz, and Georgia O’Keeffe. The novelist D.H. Lawrence lived outside Taos (1922–25), where he wrote his novel The Plumed Serpent (1926). His ranch is maintained by the University of New Mexico. The grave of the frontiersman-scout Kit Carson is the site of a memorial state park, and the house he occupied from 1853 to 1868 is preserved. Taos is the headquarters of Carson National Forest, and Taos Ski Valley is 19 miles (31 km) north-northwest. The area is well known for its Indian fiestas and ceremonial dances and is a centre for artists and artisans. Inc. 1933. Pop. (2000) 4,700; (2010) 5,716.