May 11, 2008

Montezuma Castle

This is the third installment of our Southwest USA trip.

After the tour left Phoenix, we headed north toward Flagstaff. Before stopping in Sedona for lunch, we visited Montezuma Castle National Monument. Established in 1906, this National Monument preserves the ancient cliff dwelling of the Sinagua Indians.

The masonry walls were built into a recess of a white limestone cliff about a thousand years ago. The 20-room structure looks out over the Beaver Creek floodplain and housed about 50 people. Why the structure was abandoned 700 years ago remains a mystery.

T
his was the first time I have seen a cliff dwelling in person, and it was an awesome site to visit.

an overall view of the cliff dwelling
another perspective, standing closer to Beaver Creek
a close-up view of the structure

4 comments:

  1. I Love these!! I got goosebumps, looking at them!! Weird!!hughugs

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad that you are enjoying my pictures! Seeing the cliff dwelling certainly transports you back to a different time and gets you thinking about how these people lived!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What fabulous photos. I have always wanted to go to see these.
    xoxo Nita

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you, Nita! I had always wanted to see one of these cliff dwellings too, so I was delighted when it was included on the tour. If only they still allowed you to go up in them, LOL! That would be cool!

    ReplyDelete

Marty, here! Donna loves comments, and I faithfully pass them on to her. Thank you so much for visiting!