THE HISTORIC TRINIDAD MARTINEZ ADOBE

Join Us for the Grand Opening Wednesday, July 17, 2026!

We are thrilled to welcome the community to experience the newly restored Trinidad Martinez Adobe.

PRESERVING THE HISTORY OF TULAROSA

Located at 604 3rd Street in Tularosa, NM, the Trinidad Martinez Adobe stands as a proud, living monument to the founding era of our village. What is believed to have started as a modest pit house eventually evolved into a foundational adobe structure that housed the Martinez family and served the community as an early meat market.

The Martinez familly came into New Mexico with Onate in 1598 in the first of five waves of colonization. The first wave came mostly from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, France, Portugal), especially around Castilla, Leon, Portugal, Galicia, Catalonia, the Crete and Canary Islands, and the Basque Province. Sabino Martines (now spelled Martinez) was listed as an original settler of Tularosa. Trinidad Martinez is listed on the 1885 Village of Tularosa map as owning Block 34, Lot D, with an adobe structure.

The preservation of this crumbling artifact was made possible through the resolve of Harvey Yates, Jr., who purchased the property to put in parking. However, once he toured the interior, the plan changed. Understanding that the home’s deep history belonged to the community, he founded The Greater Tularosa Foundation and one of its primary missions was to safeguard the historical legacy of the Martinez home.

Thanks to his vision and the foundation's subsequent stewardship, the structure has been meticulously taken back to its original layout and design, ensuring that Tularosa's deep-rooted community identity is preserved for generations to come.

The Martinez Adobe is more than just old walls—it is a tangible link to our shared past and traditional craftsmanship. Hand-built using mud-and-straw adobe bricks, the home represents the classic architectural heritage defining Tularosa's Historic 49 Blocks District.

During renovation a cannon ball was also discovered two feet deep behind the building. The theory of how it came to be there is that it may have been part of the ‘Water Wars’ that took place between 1873 and 1882. The historical archives—including court records, newspaper accounts, and military dispatches from the New Mexico Historical Review—paint a wild picture of the era when local water rights along the Rio Tularosa led to armed mobilization, a heavily armed posse massacre, and the dramatic deployment of federal troops and artillery.

The home also features adobe mud floors, a mud roof and one of the only surviving latilla and reed ceilings in all of Otero County, making it an irreplaceable treasure of regional history and Southwestern engineering. For over a century and a half, this site has witnessed the transformation of the high country, enduring as a symbol of the resilience and resourcefulness of early pioneering families.

Moving forward, the Trinidad Martinez Adobe will be open to the public as a cultural and historical home designed specifically for students, historians, and tourists alike.

To ensure the highest level of historical integrity, the site will be manned by local archaeologist and historian Joe Ben Sanders. The home will also serve as a vital local repository, safeguarding a collection of Tularosa's historical records. Visitors will be able to browse those records and purchase books detailing Tularosa's rich history, making the Adobe the premier destination to learn about our village's past.

Come explore the rare architectural features, research our local roots, and experience 19th-century New Mexican history firsthand.

copyright 2013 - 2026, The Greater Tularosa Foundation