Cottonwood Trading Post, once an enclave of Anglo ownership in the middle of San Ildefonso Pueblo, is back in the hands of the pueblo.

The Trading Post was opened about 30 years ago by Bill Crow. It sold Native American-made arts and crafts to tourists, and groceries to the people who live at the pueblo.

"Back then it used to be called Mr. Crow's," said Leanna Martinez, a young San Ildefonso Pueblo woman who works at the Trading Post. Martinez said she used to come to the trading post with her parents to buy sacks of candy from Crow. "I just remember he used to tease," she said. "It used to be a dark, old, wooden trading post."

Cavan Gonzales, 38, who manages the Trading Post, said his grandfather and Crow (both veterans of World War II) were friends. "It was a homestead to begin with," Gonzales said.

"We've been trying to find stories from people who remember how Mr. Crow came to be here," Martinez said.

About 15 or 20 years ago Crow sold the property to Joseph Babbitt (brother of former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt) and his wife, Judith. Joseph Babbitt died about five years ago. His wife kept the trading post open for a few years, but later sold it to the pueblo and moved away.

The trading post was closed for about a year before the pueblo reopened it in August. It's still housed in the same adobe building, but most everything else has changed.

Cottonwood is no longer a dark rustic looking place, where groceries shared shelf space with pots and blankets.

What used to be the Crow's living room looks like something one would find a block off the Plaza in Santa Fe: all polished wood and high-end pottery and jewelry.

One of the former bedrooms has become the Maria Martinez room, an homage to the world-famous San Ildefonso Pueblo potter credited with reviving the distinctive black-on-black pottery the pueblo is known for today. A chart on the wall diagrams the late potter's family tree. Gonzales is her great-grandson. A glass case houses a Maria Martinez plate, on loan from a collector from Laguna Beach, Calif.

Gonzales said other pueblo residents own pieces of the coveted black pottery, "but those are their own."

Cottonwood does sell pottery created by Maria Martinez's granddaughter and other family members.

The highly polished black pots etched with spiders and inlaid with turquoise and coral share shelf space with pots made by more than 30 other potters from San Ildefonso and other New Mexico Pueblos.

The trading post also sells jewelry, paintings, etchings, fetishes and kachina dolls, all made by Native Americans, all handpicked by Gonzales and Martinez.

The Cottonwood Trading Post also carries the ceremonial regalia used in the pueblo's dances and rituals.

"We are trying to use the positive things that we have to create economic value," said Gonzales. "The artists appreciate the attention that their work gets from tourists. And it keeps our culture alive. They are all beautiful and individual pieces, and they all need good homes. That's what I believe. You go with your heart, and you hope for the best."

The only thing the shop carries that isn't Native made is Pendleton blankets.

There isn't much drive-by traffic at the end of the dirt road where the trading post is located. But Leanna Martinez — who is 24 and has worked for the tribe in some capacity since she was 14 — said she's trying change that. "We've been working our tails off to let people know this place is still here," she said. She's working on a brochure that will be placed at other tourist destinations in Santa Fe and surrounding areas.

Gonzales said about 50 percent of the people who come into the trading post have been there before.

"It's totally different now," said Dick Keeffe, 79, a Santa Fe resident who stopped in last week with his wife and a friend visiting from New York City. "It's bigger and airier. More like a gallery. It used to be a real trading post. Well, it looked like one anyway."

Contact Phaedra Haywood at phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.