Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Why I Visited Mesa Verde National Park Instead Of The Warren Jeffs Polygamy Compound
On my last morning in southwest Colorado, I went to the public library in Mancos to decide if I should spend my last hours in the state trying to track down polygamists at the Warren Jeffs compound just outside town or if should visit Mesa Verde National Park."The Jeffs people really keep to themselves," said a friendly, bearded librarian named Lee.
"And I don't imagine they're very keen on giving interviews."
Gallery: Mesa Verde National Park
Since I'd already met some much nicer polygamists anyway, it was settled; I was off to Mesa Verde, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its ancient cliff dwellings that were once inhabited by Ancestral Puebloans, sometimes called the Anasazi, who lived in the region from around 600 A.D. until about 1300 A.D.
On a brisk Wednesday morning in early January, I had Mesa Verde ("green table" in Spanish) almost all to myself. I turned up at the visitor's center just after 10 a.m. and the park ranger said I was the first visitor the day. If you enter the park from Route 160, near Cortez, about a half-hour from Durango, it's about a half-hour drive (up to 45 minutes if you're a cautious driver) to see the cliff dwellings and pithouses.
I took the six-mile Mesa Top Loop and after stopping at a few pithouses, which were used as dwellings from about 550-750 B.C, I felt like I should have pursued the polygamists. The pithouses are primitive homes that are essentially shallow pits dug into the ground and you need a fairly active imagination to appreciate them.
But after catching a glimpse of the Balcony House, the Cliff Palace, the Square Tower House and some of the other cliff dwellings, I was glad that I made the effort to visit the park. There is something undeniably powerful about seeing these ancient dwellings, perched precariously in a stunning alpine setting that inspires you to want to learn more about Native American history.
Historians believe that the population of this area may have reached several thousand people in the 12th and 13th Centuries, and most of the cliff dwellings you can see today were built between 1190-1270. The largest is the Cliff Palace, which has about 150 rooms. The fact that the Ancestral Puebloans went through all the trouble of constructing these elaborate dwellings only to abandon the area only 100 years or so later, tells us that they were likely compelled to leave because of severe drought or the reality that they'd depleted all of Mesa Verde's natural resources.
It's difficult to prioritize one's time in the Four Corners region on a short trip, as you have three national parks within three hours of Durango – Mesa Verde, Canyonlands and Arches, plus Monument Valley, the Four Corners monument, not to mention all the ski resorts and other sites in the area. I'm not a huge fan of archaeological sites, but I wouldn't leave this region without spending at least a couple hours visiting Mesa Verde because it will remind you that although we aren't really the "young country" we're made it out be.
[Photo/video credits: Dave Seminara]
But after catching a glimpse of the Balcony House, the Cliff Palace, the Square Tower House and some of the other cliff dwellings, I was glad that I made the effort to visit the park. There is something undeniably powerful about seeing these ancient dwellings, perched precariously in a stunning alpine setting that inspires you to want to learn more about Native American history.Historians believe that the population of this area may have reached several thousand people in the 12th and 13th Centuries, and most of the cliff dwellings you can see today were built between 1190-1270. The largest is the Cliff Palace, which has about 150 rooms. The fact that the Ancestral Puebloans went through all the trouble of constructing these elaborate dwellings only to abandon the area only 100 years or so later, tells us that they were likely compelled to leave because of severe drought or the reality that they'd depleted all of Mesa Verde's natural resources.
[Photo/video credits: Dave Seminara]
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Hiking, History, Stories, North America, United States
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Poetico Jan 19th 2013 4:59PM
Good choice because I've been to the Mancos FLDS compound and there isn't much to see.
One of the biggest problems with polygamists is that they can't count, and they desperately need an education. Male to female birthrates are 50-50, globally so Mother Nature simply doesn't create enough females to support a polygamous lifestyle...hence the "lost boys" who are expelled from polygamous communities, and not just from the FLDS, so that older sex perverts can add more young females to their harems.
Anyone who believes for a minute that there's anything good or civilized about polygamy needs to join a cult and try it for awhile. Polygamy is a bronze-age goat-herder lifestyle that was practiced in ancient times, and is still being promoted in modern times by a bunch of backward neanderthals.
Powerful Mormons in Utah and Arizona are going to pay a price for molly-coddling abusive polygamists in their communities, it's just a matter of time. Anyone who's seen the doc film "Banking On Heaven" knows this is true.
David C. Maness Jan 28th 2013 4:25PM
"Powerful Mormons" is misleading. There is molly-coddling, but it's by federal and state officials who are responsible to prosecute the shadowy and slippery polygamists. Yes, many, if not most, of those officials in in the intermountain west are Latter-day Saints just because it's the single biggest denomination in the region. But there is no institutional or cultural sympathy among Mormons for the men who claim to live some supposed higher law by taking more than one "wife." It's adultery, is usually accompanied by fraud and abuse, is condemned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is notoriously difficult to prosecute.