Road Trip: Mesa Verde and Taos Pueblo

We have been trying to find a week without commitments of one kind or another for awhile now.  We circled last week on the calendar and let everyone know we would be gone.  Our destination was ultimately Silver City, New Mexico where we had lived some 35 years ago.  It was Roger's first job right out of University that took us there and it was there that our second child, Daniel, was born.  That history has kept us tied to Silver City and to New Mexico.  Since there is a lot to see between here and there, we decided to make it a tour of old and new as we traveled through all four states of the four corners area of the U.S.: Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and finally back to Utah.

Our first destination was Mesa Verde just inside the Colorado border.  It is the historical remains of a civilization called the Anasazi or Ancient Ones.  These were the ancestors of the Puebloans who moved down to what is now known as New Mexico and Arizona. 
                                                                 

They arrived in this area about 1,400 years ago and were a thriving civilization for over 700.  They built elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of canyon walls.

We toured areas which included the Cliff Palace (the first ruins above),  Balcony House, and Spruce Tree House.  

Some of the ruins can only be seen from a distance and, in fact, a few were only recently discovered following a forest fire that occurred a few years ago.  Other sites require the ability to climb up and down ladders similar to those the Anasazi used every day to return to the mesa to care for the crops they grew and hunt for game.  We quickly decided photos from across the canyon would work well for us in those cases. 

We were able to take a short hike to the site of the Spruce Tree House and explore the remaining ruins there.  It was absolutely amazing to me how these people built these communities and lived there successfully for so long.  It is felt that decades of drought finally drove them away from these canyons and onto the plains below.

Continuing our trip, we drove into Taos, New Mexico and the Taos Pueblo, considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the USA.  The buildings are made entirely of adobe (earth, straw and water mixed and poured into forms) and are believed to be well over 1000 years old.  While there are doors now, originally the only entrance to the homes were provided by ladders to the roof where there was a hole cut to climb through.

Below, the San Geronimo Church built in l850 is still used by the people living in the pueblo and the surrounding area.

Below is the cemetery (used to this day) and is the original site of the San Geronimo Church.  Built around 1619 by the Spanish priests with Indian labor, it was destroyed in a revolt by the Indians in 1680.  Rebuilt in 1706 it was again destroyed by US troops in l847.  The bell tower is all that remains.

Outdoor ovens are found in front of most of the homes here and are/were used for baking of bread and pastries versus firing of pots.  While you see propane tanks attached to some of the buildings, the Pueblo maintains a restriction of no electricity and no running water within the village.  A large stream runs through the village effectively dividing it in half and provided the water needed for survival in the past.   

Next stop - Silver City.