Crownpoint
Serendipity delivers unexpected pleasures, but the pace of life in this small rural town 55 miles from Gallup gives its residents plenty of time to enjoy them.
In this town of under 2,500 people, teachers, who live in a low-cost housing area near schoool called a teacherage, walk everyday to and from work in fantastic weather. They are surrounded by wonderful opportunities to enjoy the outdoors.
Crownpoint, seat of the Eastern Agency of the Navajo Nation, sits near trails for hiking and biking, lakes and forests for fishing and hunting, and mountains for prime skiing many months of the year.
For some newcomers, finding themselves stranded an hour from coffeehouses and other modern luxuries comes as a shock. The close-knit Crownpoint faculty members answer the call of the big city by bringing the big city to Crownpoint—meeting, for example, on a Saturday morning and reconnecting with friends over an early morning cup of coffee before planning a trip to see traditional Hispanic and Indian art in Albuquerque.
But they don’t have to go far to find beauty. Navajo artistic tradition thrives in the reservation town of Crownpoint, where, at one end of the elementary school gymnasium, an auctioneer works a small crowd during the Navajo rug auction held the second Friday of each month. Many Navajos lead a subsistence lifestyle, and since 1968, have depended on sales of their exquisite rugs to support them.
Such gracious interludes feed the soul, but teachers in Cronwpoint talk even more enthusiastically about the unexpected pleasures of seeing a struggling student suddenly succeed in their classroom.
Crownpoint is that kind of place, the teachers say—full of simple delights, and graced with a relaxed and happy pace that lets you revel in them.