No. 168 San Nicolás Dzoyaxché Hacienda

The Hacienda

The former henequen hacienda San Nicolás Dzoyaxché was built in the 19^th century, and its first owner was Don Francisco Martínez de Arredondo y Castro. The Church was built in 1926 and is consecrated to San Nicolás de Tolentino, guardian saint of the village, whose festivities are celebrated in September 10-20, with trade, folk dances, processions, and novenas.

The surviving walls, roofs, and machinery are witness of the architectural splendor of those times, these vestiges can be seen in gardens and corridors. One of the peculiarities of the main manor, of colonial style, is that it is built over a cenote, and the pond it has was modified to be used as a swimming pool.

Patron Saint

San Nicolás de Tolentino (1245-1305) was an Italian friar from the Augustinian order, whose life represents the most achieved personification of charisma of his order. He is always represented with the book of rules in the hand; book that sometimes will show the phrase: “I always observed the precepts of my father Saint Augustine”. He intercedes for the poor, patients, people in need, and patron of the souls in purgatory.

Dzoyaxché Plant Nursery

The purpose of this area is to cultivate regional plants with the objective of reforesting diverse areas within the municipality of Mérida, improving environmental conditions and enhancing the knowledge of plants from the region. Some of its goals are:

Improvement of the plant nursery conditions in Dzoyaxché Hacienda, acquiring gardening and foresting nursery materials for its operation.

Creation of a regional plants’ seed reservoir, through collection and selection in the countryside, classifying and preparing them to be planted and start the nursery’s collection.

Transportation of specimens from other plant nurseries to Dzoyaxché, so that they can grow and then be used for reforesting purposes.

Currently, Mérida’s Town Hall do not have plant nurseries completely devoted to the cultivation of regional trees, which is important when selecting species to reforest specific areas in the municipality of Mérida and its surroundings.

Taking into account the environmental services provided by vegetation, like avoiding soil erosion, filtering water, purifying water, functioning as a barrier against hurricanes, attracting rain, bringing shelter and food for many animal species, including humans, besides many other qualities and functions, it also hides unpleasant landscapes, provides color and texture, mitigates noise, enhances positive and reduces negative behaviors, decreases temperature  for even three degrees, and diminishes time of patients in hospitals; because all of these reasons it is important to have the proper species to plant into the municipality of Mérida.

Some of the foresting regional species found and used in the municipality of Mérida and its surroundings are: ziricote, jabín, chaka, kitamché, tzalam, Kaan ha bin, tsluche, x'canan, chiit, huano, chucum, catzin, chokecherry tree, maquilishuat tree, balché, ramón, oak, etc. Regarding fruit trees, they are: sapodilla, regional guaya, nance, plum, star apple, black sapote, yellow sapote, mango, tamarind, annona, soursop, sweetsop, calabash, etc.