Exploring New Mexico's Pueblos

Acoma Pueblo, Sky City Cultural Center and Haak'u Museum

In a land of stunning vistas, of sandstone bluffs and multihued mesas, the Acoma Pueblo contain some of the most scenic and compelling of all, stretching for miles to the horizon. Add to that a fascinating tour of pueblo life atop a mesa, and a close look at the pottery, weaving, and artisan crafts of a living culture. That's a visit to the Acoma Pueblo and their new cultural center and museum.

Jemez Pueblo and Bandelier National Monument

Bandelier National Monument is the official designation and it includes about 23,000 acres of wilderness within its total 32,737 acre range. With 70 miles of backcountry trails, you can hike for weeks. But you can also just spend the day.

Although Bandelier is known for its staggering natural beauty and hiking, it is also home to the people of the Jemez Pueblo. Stop by the Walatowa visitor center. It's a good place to learn more about the Jemez Pueblo people.

Puye Cliffs and the Santa Clara Pueblo

Santa Clara Pueblo's Puye Cliffs National Historic Landmark has been reopened following an eight-year closure. This ancestral home of Santa Clara Pueblo supported 1,500 people from 1100 to 1580 A.D. An original Fred Harvey House built on site in the early 1900s to accommodate guests exploring the American Southwest will once again accommodate guests with a museum and cultural center. It is the only Harvey House on a Native American reservation. As a result, this is a doubly fascinating pueblo to visit.

Taos Pueblo

It’s impossible to walk through the Taos Pueblo without feeling the sense of age and history. People still take their drinking water from the river and live in the adobe buildings constructed over 500 years ago. Ancient ruins in the Taos Valley indicate people lived there nearly 1000 years ago, and the present pueblo buildings were most likely constructed between 1000 and 1450 A.D. About 150 people have chosen to live within the original Pueblo. Most of the Taos people own homes outside the old pueblo but still within the pueblo lands. Taos Pueblo is the only living Native American community designated both a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and a National Historic Landmark.

State Monuments

New Mexico is rich in history often associated with a particular site, now a protected state monument.

Coronado State Monument

Just outside of the city in Bernalillo, Coronado State Monument offers a look at the remains of early pueblo life including a restored kiva. Named after Francisco Vásquez de Coronado who stumbled onto the area while looking for the cities of gold, it should have been name instead after the people who lived there and whose earthen ruins sit alongside the Rio Grande. Kuaua, a Tiwa word for "evergreen," was first settled around AD 1300.