Sitting on a hill above the McPhee Reservoir and overlooking a gorgeous valley of farmland is the Heritage Center. It's a marvelous combination of museum, ancient pueblo site and gift shop.
At the entry are the remains of a small pueblo called the Dominguez Ruins. Part of the ruins (the kiva) has been backfilled with dirt to preserve and protect the site.
Inside, we were greeted by friendly volunteers that explained the traveling sections of the museum as well as the permanent area housing over 3 million artifacts, records and samples from southwestern Colorado. The picture above is only one small corner of the exhibits.
Examples of pottery, weapons, clothing, baskets, food and everything associated with everyday life of the 900 year old tribes was available.
This was an actual artifact that was transported whole from the site of a pueblo that had burned. It was easy to see pottery and shards, basket remnants and kernels of charred corn. Fascinating.
Of course there were hands-on displays where you could try weaving.....
and displays with large drawers that opened with samples of stones, animal furs, and thousands of items to touch and explore further.
We spent 2 hours perusing the museum before we received directions to the Escalante Pueblo ruins and the Lowry Pueblo.
The Escalante Pueblo was a 1/2 mile walk up the hill, near the museum. At 5 pm it was still in the 90's which made for a rather warm hike. But we didn't want to miss anything. And the trail was paved and comfortable.
Coming around the last turn of the trail, this maze of walls appeared. The Escalante Pueblo was occupied about 900 years ago and was a 28 room dwelling surrounding the circular kiva.
The kiva was used for religious ceremonies.
The pueblo overlooks the McPhee Reservoir which is the second largest, artificial body of water in Colorado.We were a little tired by the time we walked back to the toasty car but decided to continue up the highway to the Lowry Pueblo. Wow, are we glad that we did!
Tucked way back in the middle of thousands of acres of farmland is this typical puebloan settlement that housed about 100 people. It is now protected with a modern roof.
We photographed it from a zillion different angles.....
and then we discovered that we could carefully enter through one of the 4 foot high doors.
Inside, we found the kiva area and the tiny rooms where the Indians worked and played. Because it was late in the day, we had the entire pueblo to ourselves.
Following the path we came upon the Great Kiva. Nearly 50 feet in diameter and approximately 12 feet deep, I couldn't even get it all in one picture. But you can still see the four holes where the posts where place to support a roof.
The stairs descending into the kiva are very steep and blocked to help preserve the area.
By now, it was 7 pm, so Doug plugged the home coordinates into the gps and she took us home by way of a backroads, circuitous route. The dirt roads stretched through miles and miles of farms but we eventually made it back. Loooooong day!
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