Pecos National Historical Park
Pecos National Historical Park,
6,671 acres (2,702 hectares), N New Mexico; est. as a national monument 1965, designated a national historical park 1990. The park contains the remains of the Pecos pueblo, a major trade center strategically located between the Great Plains and the Rio Grande Valley. The Pecos site was excavated from 1915–29 by Alfred V. KidderKidder, Alfred Vincent,1885–1963, American archaeologist, b. Marquette, Mich., grad. Harvard (B.A. 1908; Ph.D. 1914). From 1915 to 1929 he conducted excavations at Pecos, N.Mex., for the Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.
..... Click the link for more information. and is considered the first major archaeological dig using modern scientific techniques. In 1999 nearly 2,000 skeletons that had been excavated there were returned to the inhabitants of modern JemezJemez
, pueblo (1990 pop. 1,301), Sandoval co., N N.Mex., on the East Fork of the Jemez River. In the 16th cent. there were several Jemez pueblos; by 1622 there were only two. One of the remaining pueblos was abandoned prior to the Pueblo revolt of 1680.
..... Click the link for more information. and reburied at Pecos. Two Spanish colonial missions are also preserved, as well as sites associated with the Santa Fe Trail and the 1862 Civil War battle of Glorieta Pass. A 2-mi (3-km) segment of the Pecos River is protected in the park.
Pecos National Historical Park
Pecos, NM 87552
Phone:505-757-6414
Fax:505-757-8460
Web: www.nps.gov/peco/
Size: 6,670 acres.
Established: Authorized as a national monument on June 28, 1965; redesignated on June 27, 1990.
Location:25 miles southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico, off I-25.
Facilities:Picnic area, rest rooms (é), visitor center (é), museum/exhibit, self-guided tour/trail (é). Entrance fee required.
Activities:Self-guided and guided tours, cultural demonstrations.
Special Features:Park preserves 12,000 years of human history, including the ruins of the Pecos Pueblo and many other American Indian structures, Spanish colonial missions, homesteads of the Mexican era, a section of the Santa Fe Trail, sites related to the Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass, and 20th century ranch history of Forked Lightning Ranch.
See other parks in New Mexico.