Read the story and get acquainted with this family still living in the Angel Fire area; with roots reaching back many generations. These family is still active in faith and family development in our area. The picture on the left is of Mariano and Marianita Tafoya, who were some of the original founders of the Black Lake community.

Before Angel Fire was even a glimmer in a skier's eyes, before there was a post-office, before there were condos or second homes, or even a national forest, there were many families settled, ranching and logging, in the area stretching from Black Lake to Eagle Nest, an area about a dozen miles north and south of Angel Fire. The Catholic community was alive and well with the families that lived here. New Mexico owes much of its Catholic inheritance to the Spanish, with Angel Fire being no exception.

One of the families that has had a faith building impact on Angel Fire's Catholic legacy today is the Trujillo/ Tafoya family. The family settled here when Macario and Irenea Trujillo came to Black Lake, in the southern part of the Moreno Valley, possibly from the Truchas, New Mexico area. Marianita Trujillo, their daughter, was born in Black Lake, married Mariano Tafoya from Taos, and this is where they raised their family of nine  They made their living primarily from raising sheep in the Black Lake area, stretching up into the mountain that is now part of the Carson National Forest. The area also saw a number of portable logging mills and associated logging camps.

On June 1, 1920, Mariano and Marianita gave a portion of their property to the Santa Fe Archdiocese for the purpose of building a Catholic Chapel that could serve the families living and working in the area. This was the beginning of the San Antonio Church in Black Lake, still in use today. Annually the community celebrates with a mass on the feast day of San Antonio. In addition, throughout the year, First Friday services which includes adoration, and mass and Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent are observed  in this chapel.

Once the property was conveyed to the Archdiocese, the community wasted no time gathering together to build the beautiful San Antonio Chapel. The church itself has been shuffled around from district to district, sometimes being served from Mora, sometimes from Taos, and currently from Cimarron. So although districting and priests serving the area have changed, the activity of the families in the area has not. In 1927, Mardoqueo, the son of Mariano and Marianita was wed in this chapel to Cecilia Candelaria of Guadalupita. Cecilia's family had moved up to the Black Lake area with one of the logging camps.

Mardoqueo and Cecilia met at a community dance at which Mardoqueo was playing music. So on July 9th, they celebrated their nuptials, officiated by the Most Reverend Joseff Assammader from Mora, at the San Antonio Chapel. Since then the family has celebrated baptisms, first communions, weddings and funerals, the most recent funeral was Cecelia's this past December (2007). She lived to the age of 103 and is now put to rest next to Mardoqueo in the cemetery surrounding the San Antonio Chapel. Their grandson, Richard M. Tafoya and his wife Beth, still live on the property surrounding the San Antonio Chapel, raising their family of five girls. He and Beth were married in this chapel on July 1, 1998 and have taken delight in seeing two of their five daughters baptized in the chapel.