Jack D. Rittenhouse

I keep returning again and again to the topic of the Old Santa Fe Trail and I think I've finally figured out why: I'm lured by the romance of the open road.

Roads are simultaneously about freedom and connection—the freedom of journeying from one far off place to another, and the almost tangible connection between the two. The Santa Fe Trail, being America's first great highway, is the epitome of this idea. It was the first of three main corridors to the American West, an open country that show more exists mostly in legend now, and the village of Santa Fe itself earned its near-mythical status as the end point connecting the burgeoning American frontier to Mexico.

I've read and recommend David Dary's comprehensive The Santa Fe Trail: Its History, Legends, and Lore, and this shorter book by Jack Rittenhouse is a quick, satisfying summary. I recommend it as an introduction to the subject. show less