Mesa Verde National Park
| Mesa Verde National Park | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Montezuma County, Colorado, USA |
| Nearest city | Cortez, Colorado |
| Area | 52,121.93 acres (210.93 km²) 51,890.65 acres (209.99 km²) federal |
| Established | June 29, 1906 |
| Visitors | 498,333 (in 2005) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
Mesa Verde National Park is a national park in southwest Colorado, in the United States. The park occupies 81.4 square miles (211 square kilometers). Its entrance is about 9 miles (15 kilometers) east of the town of Cortez. The visitor center is 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the entrance, and Chapin Mesa (the most popular area) is another 6 miles (10 kilometers) beyond the visitor center.
Attractions
Mesa Verde is best known for a large number of well preserved cliff dwellings, houses built in shallow caves along the canyon walls. For most of the 12th and 13th centuries, the Classic Period, the Ancient Puebloan Indians lived in these dwellings. The reason for their sudden departure about 1275 remains unexplained; theories range from crop failures due to droughts to an intrusion of foreign tribes from the North. The park's Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum provides information about the Ancient Puebloan civilization and displays findings and artwork.
Three of the cliff dwellings on Chapin Mesa are open to the public. Spruce Tree House is open all year, weather permitting. Balcony House and Cliff Palace are open except in the winter; visitors may tour them with a ranger guide. Wetherill Mesa also has cliff dwellings, Long House, and Step House. Other dwellings are visible from the road but not open to tourists.
In addition to the cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde boasts a number of mesa-top ruins. Examples open to public access include the Far View Complex, Cedar Tree Tower, and the Sun Temple, all on Chapin Mesa, and Badger House Community, on Wetherill Mesa.
Also in the park are hiking trails, a campground, and facilities for food, fuel, and lodging; these are unavailable in the winter.
History
Richard Wetherhill, a Colorado rancher, happened across the dwellings at Mesa Verde on December 18, 1888, when he spotted them from the top of the mesa. The ruins initially weren't well studied, even though they were being popularized throughout the United States.
Mesa Verde was first studied by Gustaf Nordenskiöld, the son of the polar explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, in 1891.
The area was established as a national park on June 29, 1906. As with all historical areas administered by the National Park Service, the park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. It was designated a World Heritage Site on September 6, 1978. The park was named with the Spanish for green table because of its forests of juniper and piñon trees.
The Mesa Verde Administrative District was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 29, 1987. It consists of the first buildings constructed by the National Park Service (1921), which are based on cultural traditions represented in the park area. The principal designer believed that structures could be used for interpretive purposes to explain the construction of prehistoric dwellings in the Park, and be compatible with their natural and cultural setting.
In the summer of 2002, the park, which is covered with forest, suffered from a large number of forest fires; parts of it were closed. All areas of the park have since re-opened, but some areas show significant damage from the fire.
The Mesa Verde Reservoirs, built by the Ancient Puebloans, were named a National Civil Engineering Historic Landmark on September 26, 2004.
Geography
Elevation in the park ranges from about 6,100 feet (1,860 meters) to about 8,400 feet (2,560 meters). The terrain in much of the park is dominated by ridges and valleys running roughly north and south; many of these ridges peak at an east–west crest near the park's northern border, which turns more northerly–southerly towards the park entrance. The northernmost point is 13.2 miles (21.2 kilometers) farther north than the southernmost; the westernmost point is 11.9 miles (19.2 kilometers) farther west than the easternmost.
See also
External links
- Official NPS site: Mesa Verde National Park
- Mesa Verde, a Photo Gallery
- Spruce Tree House, a Photo Gallery
- Mesa Verde National Park Page
- Photos of Mesa Verde National Park - Terra Galleria
- Photographic virtual tour of Mesa Verde National Park.
