This 17th century mining town has charm, historic buildings, nature tours and a rapidly-filling calendar of events & festivals

The Plaza de Armas On Saturday mornings, visitors enjoy a weekly House & Garden Tour. Here, the Nuzum House courtyard. The Alamos town square or zocolois The Alamos Square, Plaza de Armas. La Puerta Roja B&B offers comfy roomsand delicious food.

A good place to linger if you’re going north by car is the old silver mining town of Alamos, about five hours northeast of Mazatlán off of Hwy. 15 in the state of Sonora. (And another nine hours to the U.S. border at Nogales.) If you need to stop and sleep somewhere, why not choose a town recently declared a Mexican National Monument? This distinction was given to Alamos because of its 188 intact buildings of historical note, all within walking distance of the town’s zocolo, the Plaza de Armas. The zocolo, or square, is surrounded by tall palm trees (a bit reminiscent of Southern California).

  What you’ll find is a historic urban center like Mazatlán’s Old Town, except that the buildings here predate the oldest buildings in Mazatlán by 100 years. Alamos sprang up in the late 17th century with the discovery of silver in them thar hills, the mountains of the Sierra Madre. Most of the wealth was carried back to Spain, but not all of it. Mine owners built themselves some pretty lavish mansions.

  Visitors can peek inside some of these homes on Saturdays when the community sponsors its weekly House and Garden Tours. These start at 10 a.m. at the museum, near the Plaza de Armas. The tours are $150 pesos per person and that donation benefits a local scholarship fund. The population is about 10,000. 300 of those are extranjeros from Canada and the U.S. and many are civic-minded.

I stayed in a B&B owned by an American woman, Teri Arnold-Shannon, who opened La Puerta Roja in 1992. Shannon has a reputation in town for her gourmet cooking and often caters local events.

  The Hacienda de los Santos is actually a union of three 17th and 18th century Spanish colonial mansions, seamlessly connected with stone walkways, brick passageways, tunnels and footbridges set amidst six lushly landscaped acres. Stop in and have a drink in one of the bars or sample some dishes in the cantina and take in the grandeur of the place.

  The area surrounding Alamos is prime bird-watching territory. Two American-owned birding companies operate in town.

  Stephanie Meyer runs weekly natural history and bird-watching tours. She takes small groups to see North American shore birds in the Hutabampito estuary, about 1-1/2 hours from Alamos. She also offers tours to nearby Mayo Indian villages.

  Jennifer and David Mackay run Solipaso (www.Solipaso.com), which offers river rafting trips down the Mayo River and birding trips to places as far away as San Blas or Oaxaca. The couple recently opened El Pedregal in Alamos, a 20-acre nature preserve with five cabins for overnight guests. They can accommodate individuals or small groups of up to 12 people.

  Alamos rebounded from the hard punch of Hurricane Norbert, which struck in October, 2008. Many hotels and businesses shut down for weeks to repair damage, and 70 homes were lost. There’s a small airport in town that still operates.

  Alamos hosts an annual music bash each January in honor of one of the town’s famous sons: Ortiz Tirado, a famous Mexican opera singer/composer. The festival stretches over nine days in venues all over town. Next year’s 25th annual Ortiz Music Festival is January 21-29. According to Shannon, the music ranges from rap to opera, and also includes good jazz. She cautioned that during this event everything is booked full two months in advance.

  The Alamos Silver Festival is Feb. 11-15. Silversmiths come from all Mexico, and many of the lectures and demonstrations take place at the Hacienda de los Santos. There are special dinners and luncheons, demonstrations of jewelry-making, and of course, lots of silver for sale.

  If you do pass through and have a little extra time, stop in at the Tesoros Hotel, a few blocks from the Plaza de Armas. The bartender does a good job filling in town history, from the Spanish Conquest to the time Carol O’Connor of television’s “All in the Family” fame owned a house in Alamos.

Stuart Wasserman, a former national correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle, is now a freelance writer/photographer based in Portland, OR.  His Mexico photo website can be viewed at www.agpix.com/themexicofile.