El Rito, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico

El Rito, (Spanish for 'riíto', The Little River[1]), is an unincorporated community in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States.

El Rito was one of the first Spanish settlements in the Jicarilla Apache lands[3] north of Santa Fe, being settled about 1807.

[1] San Juan Nepomuceno Catholic Church is in the town, built between 1827 and 1832.

[6] El Rito is the home of the Carson National Forest Service – El Rito Ranger District, the El Rito Public Library, the Las Clinicas del Norte, and a campus of Northern New Mexico College.

The El Rito Studio Tour is held in early October Among the artists living in this tiny New Mexico village are Nicholas Herrera known as “The El Rito Santero” and David Michael Kennedy both of whom have work in the Smithsonian.