Jaral de Berrios

Jaral de Berrios grew up around one of the largest haciendas in New Spain. The first chronicles of the Jaral valley date from 1592, on Guachichil land that colonists turned into pasture and farming. Martín Ruiz de Zavala began building in 1613, and in 1694 the estate passed to the Berrio family. Miguel de Berrio came to hold 99 haciendas with this one as the main seat, and in 1774 Charles III made him Marqués de Jaral del Berrio. His grandson Juan Nepomuceno de Moncada y Berrio, the third marquis, was reputed the richest man in Mexico. The estate sold maguey to the region's mezcal distilleries and, thanks to nitrate-rich soil, made gunpowder.

The main house is a neoclassical palacete with Corinthian columns, caryatids, eagles, towers and a balustrade; the finest front, with a clock and two towers, was built by Francisco Cayo de Moncada in the early 1900s. Inside are a courtyard with a fountain ringed by salons, a double staircase with traces of murals, a dining room with remnants of French wall hangings, and a wooden spiral staircase that still stands. Beside it are the burial chapel of the family and the church of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, which a workman began in 1816 with his own savings. The village parish is San Diego de Alcalá.

The Revolution brought fires and abandonment; in 1938, during the Cedillista rebellion, the house was bombed from the air without casualties, and from 1940 to 1950 it decayed badly. Inside, the salons are described as abandoned, with rotting beams and broken shutters. The village had 3,235 people in the 2020 census and is presented as a tourist stop for its hacienda, but there are no published visiting hours or official notice, so do not assume you can enter the buildings.