America's Best History Spotlight

On this page we're going to Spotlight the lesser known historic sites and attractions that dot the history landscape across the USA and are worth a visit if you're in their area. And while they may be lesser known, some are very unique, and will be that rare find. You'll be, at times, on the ground floor, or maybe even know something others don't. It'll be fun. Visit them.

Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico

Let's start with its name. While the ruins are attributed to the Aztec nation by early settlers, it's not accurate. The structures were part of the Pueblo Indian culture, not Aztec, likely more accurately attributed to the Anasazi. The structures are nearly one thousand years old. Their rediscovey, and reconstruction, occurred after Earl Halstead Morris, an archaeologist, came to the ruins in 1916, and spent years uncovering Aztec West, the Great Kiva, and part of Aztec East. When the National Park Service oversaw the reconstruction of the Great Kiva, Morris surpervised.

Approximately sixty-four thousand people visit Aztec Ruins each year to view the structures which represent the largest planned community of the Puebloan people in the Animas River Valley, participate in astronomy programs, and witness the culture from nearly one thousand years ago. The site, likely chosen due to the river providing a good water supply for farming, became a central trade, ceremonial, and administrative site for other smaller communities in the Chaco Canyon region. It was inhabited for, what many think, was three hundred years.

Image above: Historic view of the North Wing from the vantage point of the Great Kiva, South Wing, date unknown, Historic American Buildings Survey. Courtesy Library of Congress. Below: Another view of Aztec Ruins National Monument. Courtesy National Park Service.

Where Is It

Aztec Ruins National Monument is located at 725 Ruins Road Aztec, NM 87410 along the Animas River in northwest New Mexico, just below the border with Colorado in San Juan County. Technically, it's part of Chaco Culture National Park. It's fifteen miles east of Farmington, New Mexico, off Route 516. It's north of Albuquerque off Route 550, nearly one hundred and eighty miles.