Page 207 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Southwest USA & National Parks

NOR THERN NE W MEXIC O  205

peoples for around 500 years
from the 12th to the 16th
centuries when successive
communities grew corn and
squash, and carried out hunting.
The earliest occupants are
thought to have carved the soft
volcanic rock of the towering cliffs
to make cave dwellings; later
people built houses and pueblos
from rock debris.
One of the most fascinating
sights here is the ruin of the
400-room Tyuonyi village. The
settlement is laid out with The façade of the Plaza Hotel in the main square of Las Vegas
semicircular lines of houses on
the floor of Frijoles Canyon. Pecos Puebloans acted as a 6 Las Vegas
From the visitor center, also in conduit for goods such as Road map E3. * 13,500. @ £
the canyon, the Main Loop Trail buffalo skins and meat, and n 500 Railroad Ave. (505) 425-3707.
leads past Tyuonyi to some of the Puebloan products including ∑ visitlasvegasnm.com
cave dwellings and the Long pottery, textiles, and turquoise.
House, multistoried dwellings The village is thought to have Not to be confused with its
built into an 800-ft (240-m) been among the largest in Nevada cousin (see pp98–135),
stretch of the cliff. Petroglyphs the Southwest. It stood up Las Vegas, New Mexico, has its
can be spotted above the holes to 5 stories high, with nearly own high-rolling past. Vegas
that once held the roof beams. 700 rooms housing over means “meadows” in Spanish,
Another short trail leads to the 2,000 people, a quarter of them and the town’s old Plaza was
Alcove House, perched 150 ft warriors. When the Spanish established along the lush
(46 m) up in the rocks and arrived in the early 1540s, it riverfront by Spanish settlers
reached by ladders. was a strong regional power. But in 1835. A lucrative trade stop
by 1821 Comanche raids, disease, on the Santa Fe Trail, Las Vegas
and migration had taken their soon became a wild frontier
5 Pecos National toll; the pueblo was almost town. Doc Holliday, who briefly
Historical Park deserted, and the inhabitants owned a saloon here, was among
moved to Jemez Pueblo. its legendary characters (see
Road map E3. Hwy 63. Tel (505) 757- The pueblo site can be seen p59). The coming of the railroad
7241. Open Jun–Aug: 8am–6pm daily; on a 1.25-mile (2-km) trail that in 1879 brought even greater
Sep–May: 8am–4:30pm daily. Closed winds past them and the ruined pros perity, and new building
Dec 25. & 7 ∑ nps.gov/peco remains of two Spanish mission took place around the station.
churches. There are also two Grand Victorian architecture
Located across Hwy 63, about reconstructed kivas (sacred still prevails and self-guided tours
25 miles (40 km) southeast ceremonial sites). The visitor are available from the visitor center.
of Santa Fe, Pecos National center has exhibits of historic Outdoor activities are pop ular
Historical Park includes the ruins artifacts and crafts, and a in the area, with golf resorts
of the once-influential Pecos video covering 1,000 years of and the water sports of Storrie
Pueblo. Situated in a pass Puebloan history in the area. Lake State Park just a few miles
through the Sangre de out of town.
Cristo Mountains, the
pueblo dominated
trade routes between
the Plains Indians
and the Pueblo
peoples between
1450 and
1550.

One of the ruined Spanish mission churches in Pecos National Historical Park

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