Velarde is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 502 at the time of the 2010 census. Velarde is located upon New Mexico State Road 68, in the Rio Grande Rift, at the narrowing where the road enters the Rio Grande Gorge.

In 1750, Juan Matias Velarde arranged Velarde, (2012 New Mexico Blue Book) at the become old named La Joya after his Spanish-born ancestor, Juan Antonio Pérez Velarde, who settled close El Paso del Río del Norte (present Ciudad Juárez, Mexico) in 1725. His touch to this Rio Grande agreement encouraged supplementary members of his relations to have an effect on north into colonial New Mexico in the mid-18th century.

In 1750 Juan Matias Velarde, who standard the town as “La Joya”, the name maybe originating from a 1712 Spanish home grant firm to Sebastian Martin in the post-Pueblo Revolt resettlement of the region. This was likely a misspelling of “La Joya,” which translates from Spanish as “The Jewel”. The Tewa pronounce for the location was Phahu’bu’u, or Tsigubu’u, which meant “basin of the chico bush or rabbit thorn”.

The community, located at the mouth of the Rio Grande canyon along the Low Road to Taos (not truly part of the Camino Real, despite the ancient pathway greater than Embudo Pass monster designated as a result by a historical marker ), had through its Spanish-settled archives served mostly as a peaceful resting spot for passing travelers, especially for those heading north out of the low river country.