Situated on the west bank of the Rio Chama, Abiquiu was built on the site of a Tewa pueblo ruin and settled in the early 18th century. In the late 1800s, the little village was a stop on the overland stage route to the new Spanish settlement on the Pacific Coast - Los Angeles.
Abiquiu was the birthplace of Padre Antonio Jose Martinez, the priest credited with the establishment of the Southwest's first coeducational school. His lifelong crusade to educate his people took him to Taos in 1826, then into politics.
Abiquiu is best known today as the home of the late Georgia O'Keefe, who fell in love with the scrubby red canyons and fertile river valley, and through her painting brought it to the attention of people around the world.
Abiquiu is also the site of the Dar Al-Islam mosque, an ornate mesa-top structure across the Rio Chama. Built in the early 1980s at a cost of $1,372,000 the mosque includes a 17,000 square foot school and library complex, as well as elaborate prayer rooms and living quarters. The mosque, which sits on a 9,000 acre tract of land is home to over 30 Muslim families, from the U.S., Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Great Britain, Holland, and Belgium.