El Contrafuerte Pequeno de la Iglesia de Las Trampas

Harold Joe Waldrum

"El Contrafuerte Pequeno de la Iglesia de Las Trampas" roughly translates to The Small Buttress of the Church of Las Trampas. San José de Gracia de Las Trampas mission church is located in Las Trampas, a Spanish colonial village established in 1751, set in a beautiful mountain valley south of Taos on the old "High Road" (New Mexico Highway 76).

Originally a lay chapel, San José de Gracia is situated on the original town plaza. The church was completed in 1780 and is considered to be one of the best preserved examples of Spanish Colonial Mission architecture in New Mexico.

San José de Gracia de Las Trampas is still an active parish church ad was fully restored in the 1970s.