Welcome to Lava ...
So far, we found very little information about Lava. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>
We've added Lava to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Lava, please Contact Us.
Lava would have been located within present day Rio Arriba County<2>.
We aren't confident of the location of Lava, so consider the above location as an estimate.<3>
While we don't have a date for the founding of Lava, you might get a feel for it by knowing that during our research the earliest mention that we found (so far) was in a book dated 1895.
While the community is gone, the present day location for Lava is 8,510 feet [2,594 m] above sea level.<4> In other words, the altitude of Lava is about 1½ mile [or ~2½ km] above sea level.
Time Zone: The area where Lava was located is in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time
The location where Lava once stood is in the (575) area code.
Communities Also Named Lava ...
Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two New Mexico communities named Lava: This one is located in Rio Arriba County and the other is located in Socorro County.
Beyond New Mexico, there are 6 communities that are also named Lava - they are located in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, New York and Oregon.
For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Lava.
Communities near Lava ...
We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Lava.
- Manassa
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manassa
- Manassa is located in Conejos County (CO)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,019 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Manassa <5>
- Antonito
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Antonito
- Antonito is located in Conejos County (CO)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 752 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Antonito <5>
- Romeo
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Romeo have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Romeo
- Romeo is located in Conejos County (CO)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 417 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Romeo <5>
- Mogote
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mogote
- Mogote is located in Conejos County (CO)
- Paisaje
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north) - Sublette
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sublette
- Sublette is located in Rio Arriba County
- Conejos
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Conejos
- Conejos is located in Conejos County (CO)
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Conejos <5>
- Osier
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Osier
- Osier is located in Conejos County (CO)
- Bountiful
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bountiful
- Bountiful is located in Conejos County (CO)
- Cumbres
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cumbres
- Cumbres is located in Conejos County (CO)
To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.
We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Lava. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Lava.
Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Lava. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Lava.
We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Lava. See our Newspapers Page for Lava.
Adding Lava to Our Gazetteer ...
We originally found mention of Lava in the GNIS. For more information, see the Referenced GNIS Codes section on our Miscellaneous Page.
From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Lava was in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).
For more details, see References and Mentions for Lava.
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Lava, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | If you're interested in how the shape of New Mexico's counties, including Rio Arriba, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. |
| <3> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <4> | The elevation is an estimate for the area around Lava - it will be higher in some places and lower in others. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |