9 Native American Sites to Explore

From Colorado Tourism Office

We can’t very well discuss Colorado’s true roots without remembering our earliest inhabitants. The following sites and museums will have your imagination floating back in time to the first and most fascinating human experiences in Colorado.

1. Mesa Verde National Park

Inside the national treasure of Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez are more than 600 dwellings carved out of rock thousands of years ago by the area’s Ancestral Puebloans. They sit abandoned by their creators beneath protective cliffs. Come see the Southwestern landscape through new eyes: climb ancient staircases, marvel at the sandstone masonry and peer through rock-carved windows into the past.

2. Ute Indian Museum

The lives and ways of the Utes — the indigenous inhabitants of western Colorado — are commemorated at the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose, one of the few in the country devoted to a single tribe. Be sure to watch the video on the traditional bear dance, visit the memorial to Chief Ouray and see the grave of his wife Chipeta. Surrounding walking trails provide a peaceful place to reflect after your visit.

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