D. H. Lawrence Ranch
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D.H. Lawrence Ranch Historic District
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Interior of the Lawrence Memorial, with the stone containing the initials D.H.L.
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| Nearest city | San Cristobal, New Mexico |
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| Coordinates | 36°34′55″N 105°35′37″W / 36.58194°N 105.59361°WCoordinates: 36°34′55″N 105°35′37″W / 36.58194°N 105.59361°W |
| Area | 16 acres (6.5 ha) |
| Built | 1891 |
| Architect | John Craig; et al. |
| Architectural style | Log cabins |
| NRHP Reference # | 03001410 |
| NMSRCP # | 1841 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | January 15, 2004 |
| Designated NMSRCP | August 8, 2003 |
The D. H. Lawrence Ranch, as it is now known, was the New Mexico home of the English novelist D. H. Lawrence for about two years during the 1920s. The 160-acre (0.65 km2) property, originally named the Kiowa Ranch, is located at 8,600 feet (2,600 m) above sea level on Lobo Mountain near San Cristobal in Taos County, about eighteen miles (29 km) northwest of Taos. It is a 4.2 mile drive from the boarded-up historic marker and turnoff on route NM522 to the locked gate of the ranch.
It was owned by Mabel Dodge Luhan as part of more extensive holdings nearby, although it had been occupied by homesteaders and several structures existed on the property dating back to the 1890s. In giving it to Frieda Lawrence (after Lawrence himself declined), it became first the summer home of the couple and then Frieda's home until her death in 1956, at which time she beqeathed it to the University of New Mexico, its present owner. The Ranch is now placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties. It was closed to visitors from 2008 to 2014 for repairs, but re-opened to the public in March 2015.
Lawrence and his wife Frieda received an invitation dated November 1921 from Mabel Dodge Sterne, who had read some of Lawrence's Sea and Sardinia, excerpts from which had appeared in The Dial, a literary magazine to which Lawrence contributed. Mabel was a wealthy society hostess and arts patron who had taken up residence in Taos and who was to marry Tony Luhan, a Native American from Taos Pueblo, thus becoming Mabel Dodge Luhan in 1923. Traveling via Australia, then to San Francisco, Lawrence and Frieda arrived in Taos in mid-September 1922.
After some conflict between the Lawrences and Mabel and Tony, during which the Lawrences moved into one of Tony's guest houses, then into another belonging to friends, Lawrence and Frieda went south to Mexico in March 1923, after which Frieda returned to Europe. Finally, a reluctant Lawrence sailed for England that November. In London, an attempt to lure friends to return to Taos with him brought only one recruit, the Hon. Dorothy Brett, an artist in her own right and daughter of a lord. Lawrence, Frieda, and Dorothy Brett arrived in Taos in March 1924, again as guests of Mabel. Again, tensions arose and possibly to keep Lawrence in New Mexico, it was proposed to give Lawrence the Kiowa Ranch, some 20 miles from Taos. He refused, saying, "We can't accept such a present from anybody." However, Frieda accepted, telling Lawrence that "we'll give Mabel the manuscript" of one of Lawrence’s most well-known novels, Sons and Lovers. The deed was in her name.
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