Travel: San Isidro Church in Las Mesitas, Colorado (Abandoned, Old Church)

Okay, friends… Confession: This is a totally random travel post. In fact, I usually would just add these photos to our Instagram account and carry on, but I just couldn’t help myself. This old church is an absolute gem, a truly beautiful and incredible piece of history, and because of that, I wanted to pause and give it the space that it deserves.

Let’s start here – On a recent hunting trip to Southwest Colorado, my husband stumbled on an old, beautiful, empty church in the most unsuspecting of places. Now, usually when my husband goes hiking, scouting, or hunting, he brings me back heart rocks (my favorite) but knowing his wife absolutely CANNOT resist the beauty of an old church, he took the time on this trip to jump out and snap some incredible photos to bring home and I’m so glad that he did! It certainly didn’t hurt that the sun was setting and the wow! factor of the scene was just off-the-charts. The only thing that would have made it better (for me) was if I could have actually been there! Future road trip bucket list item for sure!

(Keep scrolling past the slideshow below to learn more about this beautiful church!)

After flipping through the photos, I wanted to learn more about the history of this old church. Turns out, it was a Catholic church built in 1932 and dedicated to San Isidro, the patron saint of farmers. Now, you’ll have to forgive me if I misinterpret any of this because I’m not Catholic, so the history is all new to me, but San Isidro is named after San Isidro Labrador. Labrador, or laborer who works land, was a hired farmer (1070-1130 AD) who spent his days in the hot, unrelenting sun, working tirelessly for wealthy landowners, but giving most of all he had to the needy/the poor and to animals. He was so celebrated for his selfless actions and giving heart that he was chosen to be a patron saint, interceding in prayer for farmers, laborers, agricultural workers, brick layers, and more.

And that information led me to dig some more…

The remains of this beautiful San Isidro Church is located in Las Mesitas, Colorado, part of what’s known as the San Luis Valley. The San Luis Valley is located in Southern Colorado, very close to the NM border. After the Mexican-American war that took place from 1846-1848, the San Luis Valley changed hands from Mexico to the United States and settlers began to travel north and move into the area. Las Mesitas became a dot on the map (of sorts) around 1854 when some of these southern settlers, often with farming and agricultural backgrounds, moved north and settled there. Some twenty-five years later, construction on the chapel began and another fifty years later, the church was dedicated. Unfortunately, only forty-three years after the dedication of San Isidro Church, the beautiful structure was completely gutted by a freak, mechanical fire that started in the church heater and what you see today is all that remains.

Fun fact: Farming and agriculture are still a huge part of life in the San Luis Valley today. When you look out the windows of this now abandoned and gutted church dedicated to the patron saint of farmers, you can still get a small glimpse of what life must have looked like for its first visionaries.

There are some additional really neat details about the church itself and what it’s used for today in an article that I found online. You can read that here (click here).

Hope you enjoyed this hop back in time and mini history lesson. My heartfelt apologies for any misinterpretations, but I think I got it. Let me know in the comments below if you have something to change, update, or add and I’ll check it out! Or better yet, drop me a note if you know of another beautiful old church that deserves to be on my bucket list!

Happy Travels, Friends!

xo Shannon

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