Jemez State Monument

 

I have been to the Jemez Mountains many times over the past 17 years, but for some reason had never visited the Jemez State Monument. So, I was very excited when I learned that there had been a Letterbox placed within the monument and made plans to visit the Jemez State Monument with my daughter as soon as we could. 

A short drive from Albuquerque and Bernalillo, the Jemez State Monument is one of the most beautiful prehistoric and historic sites in the Southwest. It includes the stone ruins of a 500 year old Indian village and the San José de los Jemez church dating to 1610. The village of Giusewa was built in the narrow San Diego Canyon by the ancestors of the present-day people of Jemez (Walatowa) Pueblo. The name Giusewa refers to the natural springs in the area.

This is a Horno, an oven built using earth, stone and straw and used to bake Native American bread.

 

In the 17th century, the Spanish established a Catholic mission at the village. Franciscan missionaries accompanied the Spanish colonization. Their mission, the conversion of native peoples to Christianity, was peaceful in intent but often forced. The Franciscans believed native religions were demonic. They banned native rituals and destroyed many traditional Pueblo religious structures.

Between 1621 and 1625, the Franciscans designed a massive, stonewalled church and convento (priests quarters) at Giusewa. They named their church San José de los Jémez. This mission complex was constructed with Pueblo labor.

The church is unusual for its massive size and rare, octagonal bell tower. Colorful frescos that once decorated the interior walls were revealed during archaeological excavations in 1921 and 1922.

San José de los Jémez was abandoned by 1640, likely as a result of forced labor and religious persecution by the Spanish.

A 1,400-foot interpretive trail winds through the impressive site ruins.

According to contemporary reports, the construction was "sumptuous and curious" in its design and beauty. The massive stonewalls were constructed about the same time the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

We enjoyed exploring all the little nooks and crannies.

 

We took a Loaner Trail Guide to learn more about all the structures and history of everything that we saw.

We liked imagining livestock, like goats, sheep, chickens, cattle and horses, inside the corrals scattered around the mission.

There were beautiful and interesting vistas around every bend in the trail.

The pueblo of Giusewa was occupied until the Pueblo Revolt against the Spanish in 1680, when the Jémez people abandoned it and relocated to more defensible sites in nearby mesas.

We imagined what it would have been like to have lived here so long ago.

We were in awe thinking about the people who must have looked outside these same windows. Did they also enjoy the lovely views, like we did?

 

These cone-shaped tent rock formations, located in and around the canyon surrounding the Jemez State Mounument, are the products of volcanic eruptions that occurred 6 to 7 million years ago and left pumice, ash and tuff deposits over 1,000 feet thick. Tremendous explosions from the Jemez volcanic field spewed pyroclasts (rock fragments), while searing hot gases blasted down slopes in an incandescent avalanche called a “pyroclastic flow.”

Imagining all of the hard work done by the people who built these structures was truly humbling.

It’s fascinating to imagine this place, at one time crowded and noisy, filled with the sounds of people and animals going on about their daily lives. Now it sits silent, filled with only memories.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Jemez State Monument and a peek into the interesting history it provided.

 

Where did we go next?