Pecos Pueblo - New Mexico, 12,000 years of human history at the Eastern foot of the Sangre de Cristos

PECOS PUEBLO - New Mexico
12,000 years of human history at the foot of the Sangre de Cristos

Pecos Pueblo National Historical Park pays tribute to a Native American Pueblo that was located 25 miles south east of Santa Fe, New Mexico on the spine of a defensible ridge at an elevation of 7,000 feet. This Pueblo is an incredibly historic place, according to the National Park Service literature, Pecos Pueblo was located at the juncture of trade between the Rio Grande valley and the Plains Indian Tribes.
JD Jessop Photo

Cholla on a ridge in the snow. Apparently, Pecos Pueblo is also located at the juncture between the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains and Desert Southwest as there are plants and vegetation found there from all of those areas.
JD Jessop Photo

According to park literature, the Pueblos first occupants lived in pit houses around 1200 AD. These early peoples subsisted off of limited farming, and gathering wild plants and animals from the river, mountains and mesa.
JD Jessop Photo

Paved walkways guide you through the extensive Pueblo ruins and as you stand on top of the rise you an imagine Comanche raiding parties approaching the defenses of the Pueblo. There is thick vegetation on the nearby mountains consisting of Pinyon, Juniper, Ponderosa Pine and numerous types of other shrubs and trees. Down in the river bottoms, cottonwoods and various poplars congregate along the banks of the water courses. An early visitor to the area described the Pueblo like this: "Pecos Pueblo is congregated on a high narrow hill.....it has the greatest and best buildings of these provinces and is most thickly settled. It is enclosed by a wall and by tiers of walkways which look out on the countryside" - Baltazar de Obregon 1584JD Jessop Photo

Several catholic missions were built upon this site, the first one in the early 1600's. According to artists renditions at the site, the mission that was present in 1625 was an imposing, stunning structure of impressive size. The current remains of the mission that still stand were according to park literature, made of "sun dried adobe bricks made of clay sand and silt". The present ruins date from the mission church that was completed in 1717 which is 59 years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
JD Jessop Photo

Old pathways, corridors and walkways of the mission still exist and can be explored.
 JD Jessop Photo

I was filled with a sense of awe and felt a sore of reverence when I stood inside the remains of the old mission on the stone floor of the naive. The entire place is filled with a strange and powerful energy that is hard to describe. Hundreds of years ago, someone painstakingly set the paver stones of this floor just so and they have survived the centuries.
JD Jessop Photo

The remains of the old mission and pueblo are extensive and fascinating.
JD Jessop Photo

The National Park Service interpretive panels describe the Pueblo Plaza as a lively, busy place in 1450 AD. 42 years prior to Columbus first voyage to the Americas.
JD Jessop Photo

According to panels at the site, Pecos Pueblo inhabitants social and religious life followed the cycle of the seasons: Winter Solstice - Spring Vernal Equinox - Summer Solstice - Autumnal Equinox.
JD Jessop Photo

In 1541 Coronado and his expedition encountered a plains Indian who was held prisoner at Pecos Pueblo. This Indian told them stories of the land of Quivira which Coronado thought could be the seven cities of gold or "Cibola" that he was looking for. Coronado never found Cibola but it is fascinating to realize he passed this way and visited the Pueblo in 1541. There is so much more to discover at Pecos Pueblo National Historical Park. Traders traveling the Santa Fe Trail back in the early 1800's would have certainly noticed this prominent Pueblo. Not far from this place, the largest Civil War engagement of the West took place at the Battle of Glorietta Pass only a few miles away. If you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Santa Fe, New Mexico, enjoy that beautiful, historical town and then head east on I-25 and take a quick trip up to this fascinating historical site. It will leave you with impressions, memories and feelings you will never forget.
JD Jessop Photo

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