About Touchstone

A Taos Bed and Breakfast

Touchstone is a quiet, historic, adobe estate, secluded among tall trees at the edge of Taos Pueblo lands. The extensive grounds have an unobstructed view of Taos Mountain. The Inn features cozy rooms with fireplaces, luxurious textiles, intimate patios and exquisite tiled baths, some with Jacuzzi tubs. Guests enjoy the outdoor hot tub with choice vistas of Taos Mountain, and the double hammock is a favorite resting place year round. Conveniently located in town one mile north of Taos Plaza, Touchstone is on the way to renowned Taos Ski Valley, 18 miles to the north.

Touchstone is filled with original works of artist-owner, Bren Price, as well as that of other artists, and with special treasures collected from all over the world. Featured in the book Inside the Wind, Ms. Price's work is mainly expressionistic watercolors with Southwestern and Oriental imagery.

Chronicled in the book, Winter in Taos, by Mabel Dodge Lujan and in Taos, A Memory by Miriam Hapgood Dewitt, the Inn is a traditional adobe that has been lovingly restored so that all the mechanicals are updated and the bathrooms each have wonderful custom-designed tile-work; three of the baths feature a different R.C. Gorman lady in tile. Southwestern decor with a classic bent is the predominate feature - some rooms have cowhides on the floor along with oriental rugs - a saddle here, a lariat there, a chess set, lamps with leather shades, longhorns, a ram's skull, a Georgia O'Keeffe cow skull - eclectic with antiques - much like a sophisticated rancher of old might have in his home. Throughout the inn are southwestern artworks of Taos artists. Accentuated by classic style in switch-plate-covers, door escutcheons, towel bars and the exemplary table leg seen in the glass topped desks and free standing bathroom sinks as well as in the dining tables, one is compelled to feel the special care in adornment which institutes Touchstone as a state of mind. All of the rooms have rich textiles hanging for acoustical as well as visual effect, and each of the beds has a special afghan covering which keep guests cozy.

The gallery, which looks out over the courtyard and Taos Mountain, features individual lace-topped tables divided by plants or partitions to provide an air of intimacy. The large corner fireplace in the Leopold room, designed by Tony Lujan, is visible from the gallery as well. The relaxing sound of classical guitar or piano music and the playing fountain permeate this elegant room where special coffee and teas are always available, and a complimentary assortment of homemade pastries, rolls, juice and fruits are offered during the morning hours. The service table accentuates cobalt blue glassware and shinning silver coffee and tea urns. A staircase gallery highlights the entry foyer storing movies, CDs and tapes along with an ice maker and wine cooler refrigerator where guests may store their special drinks and fill their ice buckets.

At Touchstone guests feel pampered with the warmth of home. In each room there is a coffee maker with service utensils, an ice bucket, wine glasses and openers, and in the bath, robes, hair dryer and luscious soaps. There has been great attention to detail paid in the decor of the rooms, most of which have fireplaces and four have Jacuzzi tubs. In the common room, The Leopold, there are historical books of the area and novels which one may take to one's room or sit by the fire there or in the garden room and enjoy along with the view. Guests are welcome to browse the gallery's artwork. Some wonderful music has been composed in this very room. (Leopold Stokowski was here for Christmas in the 1930's and the latest composition was by Adrian Bruce in 1996).

Miriam Hapgood writes in her book, Taos, A Memory that the last time they lit the candles on the Christmas tree, her son Ned's clothing caught fire, and Stokey (Leopold Stokowski) put the fire out with his hands

". . . his indispensable white hands that Brett will paint over and over again in the act of conducting."

In a letter to her father, playwright Huchins Hapgood, Miriam Hapgood Dewitt, who owned the house in the '30s, writes of this place called Touchstone:

..."I am sitting on the roof as I write this. The sun is setting. The mountains are very blue and peaceful and against them is a line of marvelous trees."
- Miriam Hapgood DeWitt, circa 1929