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Burro.

Burro Alley

Field review by the editors.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

How do you get firewood in an adobe town with no trees? In the 19th century, Santa Fe trucked it in on the backs of burros. The burros would park and unload in Burro Alley where their human partners sold the wood and then spent the money in saloons and brothels, also in Burro Alley.

The town celebrates Burro Alley's colorful past -- part of it, anyway -- with a life-size wood-laden burro in bronze, sculpted by Charles Southard in 1988.

In 2014 someone snapped the tail off the donkey (It was during an election, so a political motive was suspected), but the town quickly rallied to pay for a new tail, and gave the donkey a good scrubbing as well.

Burro alley.

Burro Alley

Address:
Burro Alley, Santa Fe, NM
Directions:
Downtown. On the north side of W. San Francisco St., just east of its intersection with Sandoval St.
Admission:
Free
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In the region:
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