My last Arizona adventure ends with a visit to Homol’ovi State Park and Meteor Crater!
Where should one visit when they are about to move across the country? Well, places that you haven’t yet of course. Along with Petrified Forest National Park, I still hadn’t seen the famous Meteor Crater or nearby Homol’ovi State Park. So, my last weekend getaway in Arizona was set.
I first visited Petrified Forest National Park (my previous post) and then the next day, I made my way to Homol’ovi State Park. The park preserves seven Homol’ovi (a Hopi word meaning “place of little hills”) ruins, two of which are open for visitors.
Before we talk about the pueblos (the best part), Homol’ovi was also home to a group of Mormon settlers. In the late 1870s, Sunset, Arizona, was home to a small farming community along the banks of the Little Colorado River. They were ordered to colonize Hopi land by Brigham Young. Sending missionaries to harass local Native people was high on their to do list.
Frequent flooding washed away the irrigation system the settlers built, leading to food shortages. The settlers moved on to greener pastures by 1888, leaving only their cemetery behind. The Little Colorado River now runs right through where the town used to be, so the cemetery really is the only thing left. No wonder the area flooded so much.
The path to Sunset Cemetery goes along a dirt track through cow pastures. So western.
Sunset Cemetery only survived because they buried everyone on a hill above the river, which is where all the trees are at.
It’s a tiny cemetery surrounded by a fence to keep the cows out.
A handful of original tombstones, a couple of replacements and a weird tomb marker that consists of a piece of iron (on the left).
A modern tombstone that was placed here to celebrate the colonizers by the Boy Scots of America, Troup 41.
Okay, back to the pueblos. Homol’ovi II is the most excavated of the seven pueblos. It was occupied around 1300 to 1400 and has about 1200 rooms and about 40 kivas. Between 750 and 1000 people could have lived here. Due to their location near the Little Colorado River and lower elevation, archaeologists think they may have been growing cotton here and trading it to the Hopi mesas. In fact, the Hopi People, who live just a bit north of here, believe their ancestors built these pueblos.
Arizona State Parks Homol’ovi II’s plan. I stole this map from a sign at the site.
The giant pueblo was built on a plateau high above the surrounding landscape.
Only a small section of the pueblo has been reconstructed.
Most of the pueblo looks like this. The stone walls have caved in. The pueblo was only partially excavated.
This area was ransacked by looters. They created the holes in the rubble.
You can just make out the walls in this one.
The remains of the East Plaza are hidden under the ridge on the left.
A reconstructed kiva.
Now for the other open site. Homol’ovi I is only slightly excavated, making the archaeologist in me want to break out my trowel. This was the first pueblo excavated at the park and the artifacts found here can be found at the Smithsonian. It was in 1896 when that was still acceptable practice. Later work here found that the pueblo had 1100 rooms, plus numerous kivas. The pueblo was built at two different times, in stone between 1285-1290 and in adobe between 1350-1360. The later section was built on top of an artificial platform to combat the frequent flooding of the Little Colorado River. However, the occupants were soon gone, leaving around 1400.
Arizona State Parks Homol’ovi I’s plan. You can really tell I stole this one from a sign.
The pueblo is in complete ruins. You can’t even tell you are climbing on the top of one.
A little bit of a wall sticking out there. I think.
It’s hard to tell it’s even a pueblo.
Well, except for the fact it’s covered with broken pottery.
The pottery would have been richly decorated.
Homol’ovi I was built really close to the Little Colorado River. It seemed like it had some issues with flooding at the lower levels of the pueblo. That may be one of the reasons why the pueblo was abandoned.
Only a handful of rooms were exposed.
They only reconstructed this section of wall. It is on the lowest level of the hill the pueblo was built on. Flooding damage was found here.
Meteor Crater is actually a meteorite crater just east of Flagstaff, Arizona. The crater is more scientifically known as the Barringer Crater but got its official geographic name from the nearby post office in Meteor. The crater is about 3,900 ft (1,200 m) across and 560 ft (170 m) deep. The crater is still privately owned by the Barringer family, who advertises the site on billboards throughout the region on Interstate-40.
A random Apollo program test capsule is here if you ever want to see one.
The Holsinger Meteorite is the largest discovered fragment of the 150 ft (45 m) meteorite that created Meteor Crater about 50,000 years ago.
The Barringer Crater (a.k.a Meteor Crater), so big you can’t fit it into one shot. Also, the viewing platforms for the non-tour look right into the sun in the afternoon. It was not pleasant.
Really steep sides on this thing.
Daniel M. Barringer, who gave the crater its scientific name, bought the land and tried to mine the crater floor thinking there were vast deposits of minerals from the meteorite. He failed to really find anything. However, he did come up with the theory that the crater was caused by a meteorite and not a volcanic explosion like the other craters in the area as this is near the San Francisco Mountains volcanic field.
Just some remains from the failed mine.
Both Homol’ovi State Park and Meteor Crater are near Winslow, Arizona (famous for that Eagles song) on Route 66 and Interstate-40 and west of Flagstaff. You can’t miss Meteor Crater with all the billboards on I-40. They are everywhere. Both were enjoyable visits.
Check out my next update where I visit Fort Smith in Arkansas!
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Check out more national parks and other public lands!
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I thought Meteor Crater was just some cheezy tourist trap. I was thrown by all the tourist trappy signs. I guess it really is a cool place.
The author of this piece says the crater, officially know by the USGS as Meteor Crater is west of Flagstaff. This is wrong. The crater is 19-20 miles west of Winslow making around 33 miles east of Flagstaff.
Dude, it was a typo.
“Someone” put up the headstone? It was Boy Scout Troop 41, in 1996, as indicated on the headstone. Troop 41 is of the Grand Canyon Council based in Phoenix, Arizona
They are someone aren’t they?
Yes. They are the “someone” who deserve recognition for their concern for history, about to be lost or abandoned, so much that they decided to do something about it. They are to be recognized and respected for the recognition and respect they demonstrated for those who preceded them.
I don’t have to respect what they did. In fact I don’t. Sunset was colonized by Mormons on the order of Brigham Young (may he rot). Did these “settlers” ask the Hopi for permission to live on their land and force the Mormon religion on them? Probably not. It is important to remember the past, but we should not respect or glorify it. The fact I found more information about this cemetery and the groups of people that colonized this area and their missionaries, versus how the Hopi, who have lived there for centuries, felt about the Mormons being there, is disgusting. Honestly, I don’t see this any different than the Daughters of the Confederacy putting up a monument to traitors.
And since this is my blog, that I pay for, I can put whatever the hell I want on here. Since you have brought it up, I need to change some text above.