La Cueva Mill – Site Visit and Condition Assessment
Earlier this month, Cornerstones completed a Condition Assessment for the historic La Cueva Mill in La Cueva, New Mexico.
Located in the middle of the Mora Land Grant, La Cueva was founded by Vincente Romero around 1851. Romero diverted a portion of the Mora River into a network of acequias that powered what is now known as the La Cueva Mill, a three-story stone & adobe building which produced flour and wheat until the late 1940’s.
During our assessments, we look closely at the building’s foundations, walls, floors, plasters, roof systems, and drainage. Documentation is an important step in our assessment process. Once a site has been documented and assessed, we then present an overview of recommendations for preservation.
Our Lady of Light, Lamy, NM - Site Visit
Cornerstones staff members Issac Logsdon and Kateri Lopez met with members of the Our Lady of Light Historic Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to restoring and preserving the church as a historic site, to conduct a conditions assessment and provide assistance in preservation plans.
Our Lady of Light is located in Lamy, New Mexico, and was constructed in the 1920’s. It is a large adobe structure built on a coursed sandstone foundation coated with cement plaster. Cement buttresses can be found on each side of the building.
The Our Lady of Light Historic Foundation and members of the community are dedicated to restore and make the church safe to be used for the benefit of the members of the Lamy community as a community center.
Wildrose Charcoal Kilns, Death Valley, CA – Site Visit and Condition Assessment
In mid July, Cornerstones staff conducted an assessment of the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns at Death Valley National Park, in preparation for upcoming fall workshops aimed at stabilizing and preserving the 30 ft tall kilns. These unique conical stone structures, completed in 1877, were used to produce charcoal for operations in the nearby lead-silver mines. While the kilns remain intact, mortar erosion and stone spalling has led to their deterioration over the years. Stay tuned for information on upcoming workshops to help preserve the Wildrose Charcoal Kilns!
Adobe Construction Course at Luna Community College, Las Vegas, NM
Friday and Saturday classes continue at Luna Community College where a dedicated cadre of committed students get some calluses and blisters assembling trusses to the bond beam, decking the roof and screwing down corrugated metal. With a roof over our heads, we have a perfect shelter to work inside when rain starts falling. We discover our orientation is perfect to catch a breeze and enjoy the coolness of adobe walls when the hot sun is blasting down. Empowerment and accomplishment shadows all.
This month, aside from working hard on the model home, we held a celebration in honor of one of our students who just became a citizen of the US. Congratulations Monika Heikkero!
Support Upcoming Plaster Work on San Miguel Chapel, Santa Fe, NM
San Miguel Chapel Restoration – Fall 2025
In 2005, Cornerstones Community Partnerships and St. Michael’s High School launched a preservation partnership to restore San Miguel Chapel, a treasured historic landmark in Santa Fe. The last major conservation effort—focused on the bell tower and façade—was completed in 2014. Since then we have maintained the parapets, however, no plastering has been done on the vertical wall surfaces. Now, over a decade later, visible cracks and structural wear have emerged, signaling the need for timely remedial action. To protect the chapel from further damage caused by monsoon rains and early snowfall, restoration is scheduled to begin in September 2025, with an estimated duration of 4 to 6 weeks.
We invite you to be part of this critical effort.
🔸 Donate: Your financial contribution ensures that San Miguel Chapel remains a vibrant, enduring symbol of our shared cultural heritage.
🔸 Volunteer: Join us on-site and experience hands-on preservation. Visit the Cornerstones Volunteer Page for more information and to sign up.
New Mexico Historic Preservation Conference, Las Vegas, NM
Cornerstones, along with the State Historic Preservation Division, is hosting the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Conference – Viva Vegas ’25, Oct. 3 – 5, 2025 at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM. The conference (after a ten year hiatus) features keynote speakers:
Elmo Baca, “Las Vegas and Preservation Opportunity”
Theodore Jojola, “PlaceKnowing and 7 Generations Planning”
Lawrence Quintana, “Awarding Preservation”
Beverley Spears, “American Adobes: Cultural Fusion and Adaptation”
Chris Wilson, “Preservation, Urbanism, and the Housing Crisis”
Visit the conference website, to find out more.
Join the Cornerstones Board
Cornerstones Community Partnerships works in partnership with communities to restore historic structures, preserve cultural landscapes, encourage traditional building practices and conserve natural resources.
Board members play a vital role in guiding the mission and ensuring our long-term success. Board members are responsible for strategic planning, financial oversight, policy development, advocacy, and community engagement.
The benefits of serving on the Cornerstones Community Partnerships board are manifold; expanding your professional and personal network, gaining valuable experience in historic preservation of our beautiful state, hearing about and visiting historic sites in private settings, social interactions with the rich and engaging world of New Mexico’s cultural and heritage architecture. For more information, please email boardchair@cstones.org