Chimayo is a census-designated place (CDP)[4] in Rio Arriba and Santa Fe counties in the U.S. state of New Mexico.

A private individual built it by 1816 so that local people could worship Jesus as depicted at Esquipulas; preservationists bought it and handed it over to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 1929.

For its reputation as a healing site (believers claim that dirt from a back room of the church can heal physical and spiritual ills), it has become known as the "Lourdes of America," and attracts close to 300,000 visitors a year, including up to 30,000 during Holy Week (the week prior to Easter).

[10] Because of how Anglo-Americans were interested in native American designs, products from Chimayo were marketed as Indian goods up until the early 1940s.

[12] Their traditional craft is but one of several still practiced in the region, including tin smithing, wood carving, and making religious paintings.

These activities, along with the local architecture and the landscape of irrigated fields, create a historic ambiance that attracts much tourism.

Act II, Scene 2 is a recorded interview with Chimayo residents LowLow and Joan Medina.

The Chimayo Chile Project began planting in the spring of 2005, which is the foundation of its ongoing seed-distribution services to local farmers.

[18] The 2008 New Mexico State Legislature, via New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, appropriated preservation support that resulted in the June 2009 publication, Chimayo Chile: A Living History of Faith, Culture, and Art, by Marie Pilar Campos of the Native Hispanic Institute.

[19] Chimayo is sited in a valley within the Sangre de Cristo Mountains 24 miles (38.4 km) north of Santa Fe.