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 Montezuma Castle National Monument - Camp Verde, AZ Posted by:  Rayman
N 34° 36.698 W 111° 50.365
12S E 423040 N 3830296
Montezuma Castle is a cliff dwelling that was once home to the Sinagua people of Arizona.
Waymark Code: WM8KV5
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 04/15/2010
Views: 35
From Arizona: A Guide to the State as part of Tour 2A (US Route 89A, now known as State Route 89A):
On the main side route is a junction with a paved road, 15.6 m.; L. on this 1.1 m. to MONTEZUMA CASTLE NATIONAL MONUMENT (adm. .25), a five-hundred-acre tract surrounding one of the best preserved prehistoric cliff dwellings. The castle is in a recess halfway up the face of a perpendicular rock cliff 145 feet high. Early white visitors erroneously associated the place with Montezuma. It is thought the inhabitants of the castle were absorbed by other pueblo-building tribes; at any rate the completely vanished.
The ash-pink adobe castle was reached by a series of ladders placed against the face of the cliff. Its first floor is a horizontal row of eight rooms - some of the adobe bricks set in cement show the fingerprints of the original mason. Roofs were constructed in the usual pueblo manner - sycamore beams with successive toppings of small sticks, reeds, and a thick layer of adobe that formed the floor of the story above. As the community grew, each new family constructed its own addition to the castle. The structure is forty feet high and the fifth story reaches the very top of the natural cave. The number of rooms decreases in each ascending story till the fifth has but two rooms and a plaza.
Montezuma Castle was established as a National Monument in 1906. It quickly became a destination for America's first car-bound tourists. In 1933, "Castle A", a 45-50 room, pueblo ruin was excavated nearby to the west, uncovering a wealth of artifacts from the Sinagua people who inhabited the area for over 400 years. Early visitors were allowed to climb ladders and go into Montezuma Castle. However due to extensive damage, this was no longer allowed in 1951.
Admission to the park is now $5 and is good for 7 days. There are several interpretive exhibits within the visitors center telling about the Sinagua people who lived here and the nearby lands.
Book: Arizona
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 331
Year Originally Published: 1940
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