Tales, tapestries in New Mexico

August 29, 2010|Rave, Shirley Moskow, Globe Correspondent

TOHATACHI, N.M. — Fans of westerns and Tony Hillerman’s popular mystery series featuring tribal police officer Jim Chee on the Navajo reservation will immediately recognize Two Grey Hills Trading Post.

The low-slung, one-story building on the Colorado Plateau in northwestern New Mexico figures prominently in Hillerman novels. Built in 1897, the trading post is part general store and part community center.

Trader Les Wilson’s business is primarily with the resident Native Americans who come to buy, trade, socialize, and pick up their mail. Customers find shelves stocked with everything from canned peaches to farm implements and saddles as well as hand-crafted antique and contemporary Navajo jewelry.

But what draws shoppers from great distances is the collection of hand-woven rugs, especially the well-known Two Grey Hills pattern from which the post takes its name. Two Grey Hills rugs are distinguished by their limited palette — browns, black, grays, and white — the natural wool of the Churro sheep that the conquistadors brought to the region. Identified by an authenticity stamp on the back, they are among the most desirable and expensive American tribal rugs.

No one, not even Wilson, knows for sure which of the Chuska Mountain peaks visible from the trading post’s front door inspired the name of the rug. However, if you ask the congenial trader to bring out his scrapbook, he’ll treat you to true tales of the Old West, an experience you will long remember.

HCR 330, Box 70, Tohatachi, N.M., 505-789-3270, www.twogreyhills.com SHIRLEY MOSKOW