Visitor Guide
Yucca House National Monument
National Park Service
Department of the Interior
AS YOU ENTER YUCCA HOUSE...
…you see two areas with large mounds of rubble covered with
vegetation. Toward the base of Ute Montain is the “West Complex,”
a large pueblo with an estimated 600 rooms, over 100 kivas, and a
great kiva (that perhaps served the entire community). A productive
spring flows through the middle of the complex. “Upper House,”
the highest portion of the West Complex, rises 15 to 20 feet above
the nearby architecture, dominating the surrounding landscape. It
must have been an impressive building. To your east is the “Lower
House” with some of the only visible standing masonry at the
site. The “Lower House” is an L-shaped pueblo with at least eight
first-story rooms. A low wall encloses the plaza with a great kiva
at its center. Yucca House, one of the largest archeological sites in
southwest Colorado, acted as an important community center for
the Ancestral Puebloan people from A.D. 1150-1300.
Stabilized wall at Yucca House, Mesa Verde in background.
YUCCA HOUSE or AZTEC SPRINGS?
Yucca House was first written about by Professor William H. Holmes in 1878
in a United States Geological Survey Report. Impressed by the most immense
dwelling found on the survey, Holmes described a prolific spring surrounded
by rubble on three sides. He drew the first map of the site, sketching the fallen
walls and piles of stone. At the time of his visit, archeologists believed these
ancient sites were built by the Aztec people of Mexico. Holmes named the site
“Aztec Springs.”
Although archeologists have only known about the site for the last century and
a half, the Utes and Navajos living in the region and the Pueblo people further
south have known about this site for centuries. Furthermore, rich oral traditions
tie the Pueblo people to this land. The modern Puebloans are the descendants
of the people who built Yucca House. The site was renamed for its location at
the base of Sleeping Ute Mountain to clarify that it was not built by the Aztecs
and to avoid confusion with nearby Aztec Ruins National Monument .
Sleeping Ute Mountain is known to the Utes and other tribes as the“mountain
with lots of yucca growing on it.” Thus, “Aztec Springs” became “Yucca House.”
Interestingly, there is no yucca growing in the monument today.
Cattails define marshy locations watered by
springs.
YUCCA HOUSE AS A HOME
Like any other group of people in the Southwest, the Ancestral Puebloans built their villages around springs. The water
was used for drinking, making mud mortar, and irrigating crops. These springs also provide an important resource for
the wildlife living in the area today. Rattlesnakes, bobcats, mule deer, and songbirds all live in and around Yucca House
National Monument. The monument preserves and protects the local vegetation. The Desert Shrub environment within
the monument boundaries includes sagebrush, four-winged saltbush, cacti,
and a number of grasses. The monument also protects one of the largest claret
cup cactus in the area. Please help us protect both the natural and cultural
resources.
As you walk around, take a moment to think about what it may have been like
to live in Yucca House. In A.D. 1200 it was a vibrant pueblo, full of people and
surrounded by farmland. Imagine the sun’s rays reflected on the carefully
planted clumps of corn, beans, and squash. Families tended their fields and
weeded with pointed digging sticks, hoping for summer rain showers. Smoke
of Utah juniper filled the air and mixed with the smell of roasting turkey as
the sun went down in the evening. Elders shared stories of “when the world
was soft, beginning” in the circular, subterranean rooms called kivas.
Ancestral Puebloans harvesting yucca
plants and preparing fields for planting.
RECENT RESEARCH
Since Holmes mapped this site in 1878 and Jessie Walter Fewkes studied and re-mapped the pueblo in 1918, there have been
two recent periods of archaeological research at Yucca House. In 1964, Al Lancaster and his crew exposed and stabilized
the northwest corner of the Lower House - the masonry wall that you see as you enter the site. That same year, after some
limited testing, Al Schroeder discovered that some of the walls north of “Upper House” were constructed of adobe,
unusual for sites dating to the 1200s in this region.
In the late 1990s, Hallie Ismay, who owned the land surrounding the monument from 1921 to 2002, donated 24 acres to
provide an alternative route to Yucca House National Monument and protect several nearby sites. This donation also
provided an important opportunity for new, non-invasive archeological research to take place at Yucca House in 2000. This
fieldwork, directed by Donna Glowacki, was a joint research project by Crow Canyon Archaeological Center and Mesa
Verde National Park. Since the only available maps of the site were done more than 100 years ago, the primary goal of the
project was to thoroughly map all of the visible architecture at the site using modern techniques. They also analyzed the
pottery lying on the surface to better understand site chronology and surveyed the newly donated land, documenting three
new sites. We now have a much better sense of
the spatial relationship of the site’s architectural
features, and we know that much of the visible
architecture dates to the Pueblo III period (A.D.
1150-1300). Although this work added greatly
to our understanding of the site, much can still
be learned by limited testing at Yucca House.
Current
For example, when was the peak occupation;
entrance
what was the social relationship between the
f
“Lower House” and the “West Complex;” what
was Yucca House’s role as an important center
within the region; and when did people leave?
Perhaps the answers to some of these questions
can be found in the future as our techniques for
learning about the past improve.
William Holmes’ map of
Yucca House when it was
first documented in 1878.
D. Glowacki, W. Dale, and
S. Tradlener’s 2001 map of
Yucca House.
FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
At the request of noted archeologist Jesse Fewkes, Henry Van Kleeck, who was a Denver pioneer and the original landowner, deeded 9.6 acres of land, including most of Yucca House, to the federal government on July 2, 1919. He hoped it
would be excavated in the near future. Due to its significance as an excellent example of a valley pueblo, Woodrow Wilson
made Yucca House a National Monument by Presidential Proclamation on December 19, 1919. Yucca House National
Monument, one of our earliest examples of public/private stewardship of our cultural resources, remained well protected
with the assistance of Hallie Ismay until her death in 2002. In fact, Hallie was honored by the U.S. Department of the
Interior for 62 years of service as the unofficial custodian of Yucca House National Monument.
Today, Yucca House is surrounded by productive agricultural lands and has beautiful views across the Montezuma Valley.
Although many archeological sites in the region have disappeared through urban development or have been irreparably
damaged by vandalism, Yucca House National Monument will remain protected well into the future. The long-term
preservation of Yucca House ensures that archeologists will be able to continue studying Ancestral Puebloan society and
what caused them to migrate from this region in the late 1200s.
Directions: From the entrance of Mesa Verde, take Hwy. 160 West through
Cortez, to Hwy. 491 South. Continue driving south approximately 8 miles from the
intersection of Hwy. 160 and Hwy. 491 and take a right on MC County Road B, which
is a dirt road one mile south of MC Road C. Drive 0.8 miles, crossing a paved road and
take the next dirt road on the right -before the farmhouse on the left. Follow this road
north and west for 1.4 miles, head towards the white ranch house with the red roof
on the west horizon. Please be courteous toward the private landowners and close all
gates behind you as you enter to prevent livestock from escaping. Once at the ranch
house, Yucca House National Monument is on the left side of the driveway.
Facilities: There are no visitor facilites or services available, such as gasoline, food, water, or
bathrooms. The closest gasoline and lodging are in Cortez, CO. Pets and camping are not allowed
in Yucca House National Monument. Motor vehicles are allowed only on roadways, at pullouts,
or in parking areas. Please pack out what you take in.
Regulations:
The Federal Antiquities Act of 1906 and the Archeological Resources Protection
Act of 1979 prohibit the removal of any object of antiquity or the destruction of any architectural
site on federal land. Report any damaging behavior immediately to a Park Ranger at Mesa Verde.
Be respectful of the wildlife and plants in the monument.
For Information: Mail -Superintendent, Mesa Verde National Park, Yucca House National
Monument, PO Box 8, Mesa Verde NP, CO 81330. Phone: (970)529-4465. Internet address:
www.nps.gov/yuho/.
