Montezuma Castle became the third national monument declared in the United States on December 8, 1906 (along with Petrified Forest – now a National Park) by President Theodore Roosevelt.
When it was built, sometime between 1100 and 1300, Montezuma Castle was a 5-story limestone cliff dwelling with 20 rooms overlooking a creek. Another nearby structure, now deteriorated, also featured 5 stories and about 45 rooms.
Imagine living in this cliffside community in Arizona, growing crops in the fertile land near the water, weaving textiles and baskets, making pottery and tools, hunting for game, and drying the hides.
In this post we explore the Montezuma Castle National Monument and Montezuma Well in Arizona.
Montezuma Castle is 25 miles from Sedona and 55 miles from Flagstaff, so it’s an easy day trip from either city.
Montezuma Castle
Emperor Montezuma II lived in the 1500s and he did not visit the Montezuma Castle in Arizona. So how did it get the name Montezuma Castle?
Early settlers thought that the structure was Aztec in origin, so they gave it the name Montezuma Castle.
In the early days visitors could climb up the wooden ladders and visit over 40 rooms of the cliff dwellings. Because of damage caused to the structure, public access ceased in the 1950s.
There is a diorama of Montezuma Castle which depicts what life may have looked like for the Sinagua at Montezuma.
Montezuma Castle is one of the best preserved Indian ruins in North America. The structure is built into a limestone cliff overlooking Beaver Creek.
The Montezuma Castle cliff dwelling was built sometime between 1100 and 1200 CE. With five levels of rooms there were ladders to reach each level. The Sinagua used a wooden beam structure for the roof construction.
Although Montezuma is a large structure it is not the biggest of the ancient pueblos in Northern Arizona, for instance Wupatki Pueblo with over 100 rooms.
Who Lived at Montezuma Castle?
The Sinagua people lived in the region around central and northern Arizona from around 600 to 1450 CE when they left the area.
Their descendants are the Hopi people, and they believe the Sinagua left the region due to spiritual reasons.
The name Sinagua was coined in 1939 by archaeologist Harold S. Colton, founder of the Museum of Northern Arizona, from the Spanish words sin meaning “without” and agua meaning “water”.
This refers to the name originally given by Spanish explorers to the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, the “Sierra Sin Agua”.
The Sinagua inhabited the area when nearby Sunset Crater erupted sometime between 1050 and 1150 CE sending ash into the air and miles away.
Honanki Ruins is another of the Sinagua ancient cliff dwelling sites near Sedona Arizona.
The Sinagua people farmed beans, maize, and squash. And they created irrigation systems with canals to guide the flow of water to the crops.
You can still see some of the irrigation canals at Montezuma Well.
They also hunted wild game such as antelope, bear, deer, duck, muskrat, rabbit, and turtle.
Plants were used for food and medicines as well as building materials for baskets, textiles, and rooftops.
Some of the plants used by the Sinagua include cactus, yucca, rose, buckwheat , hackberry, walnut, and sunflower seeds.
Medicinal plants included broom snakeweed, creosote bush, four wing saltbush, mesquite, and oneseed juniper.
There is evidence that indicates salt was used for trade in the region. The people who lived in Montezuma Castle had access to salt deposits in the Verde Valley.
Artifacts found in the Verde Valley from other regions include decorative pottery from various areas and Macaw birds from Mexico. I wonder how often they had visitors from other regions, and did the Sinagua travel to trade with others?
For recreation, the Sinagua played handball. There are many handball courts found in Arizona, mostly in the southern region but some in the central and northern regions, such as Wupatki National Monument.
Montezuma Well
Who expects to see a lake in a desert?
Montezuma Well is an oasis created by a sinkhole and fed by spring water, within the high desert of Arizona.
Over 1 million gallons of water per day flow through the Montezuma Well.
This provided the Sinagua with a water supply and irrigation for farming. The Sinagua people dug irrigation ditches to aid in watering their crops.
You can see some of the irrigation canals at Montezuma Well. Also look along the top ridge around the lake to spot the cliff dwellings.
Take the walking trail down to the water and watch the birds. It’s also a lot cooler down by the water so it’s a nice place to enjoy some shade and relax.
Along the path you will see a few of the old rooms constructed near the lake. Unfortunately, early visitors to the ruins chose to deface the area with graffiti.
There’s a giant sycamore tree near the irrigation canal. Please don’t carve your initials or anything onto the tree! Take pictures but leave everything as you found it.
Montezuma Well is 10 miles from Montezuma Castle and admission is free.
Hours and Entrance Fees
Fees
- Entrance fee is $10 and it’s good for 7 days at Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monument
- Children under 16 – FREE admittance
- Montezuma Well – FREE admittance to everyone
Hours
8 am – 5 pm daily (closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day and closes at 2 pm on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Eve)
For teachers and their students there is an educational fee waiver available which also includes Tuzigoot National Monument. Send in your application at least 2 weeks in advance of your visit.
Enjoy exploring the historical sites in Arizona.
Save this to Pinterest and share!
