| Gila Cliff
Dwellings Announces Start of Centennial Events
1907 - 2007
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Adjacent to the Gila National Forest
and Gila Wilderness in southwestern
New Mexico, the surroundings at Gila
Cliff Dwellings National Monument
are much as they were when the
Mogollon people inhabited the rock
houses in the late 13th century. A
visit to the monument is therefore a
jointly natural and historical
experience.
photo by Jim Orr courtesy of New
Mexico Department of Tourism |
(Gila National Forest)
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
Superintendent Steve Riley announced today an
April kick-off of centennial celebrations.
On
November 16, 1907, Teddy Roosevelt signed the
proclamation that forever recognized the “group
of cliff-dwellings known as the Gila Hot Springs
Cliff-Houses” as a national monument being “of
exceptional scientific and educational
interest…as the best representative of the
Cliff-Dwellers’ remains of that region.”
Throughout 2007, Gila Cliff Dwellings’ theme
Celebrating a Century of Storytelling will guide
the special events and programs at the monument,
leading up to the actual 100th anniversary on
November 16, 2007.
Gila Cliff Dwellings (circa 1950s) photo
courtesy Silver City Museum Collection
The year 2007 not only marks the 100th
anniversary of the establishment Gila Cliff
Dwellings National Monument, it also marks the
45th anniversary of an important addition to the
original monument’s boundaries. On April 17,
1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a
proclamation that added approximately 375 acres
containing additional archaeological sites “to
round out the interpretive story of the Gila
Cliff Dwellings National Monument.” As a special
centennial event, one of these added sites -- an
unexcavated surface pueblo referred to as the TJ
Ruin -- will be open for a limited number of
guided tours in April.
Tours meet at the Gila
Visitor Center at 2pm every Tuesday and
Saturday, and every day during National Park
Week, April 22nd – 29th. There will be no TJ
tour on Saturday, April 28. Group size is
limited to 20 people per tour and reservations
are recommended. For more information and to
make a tour reservation call 505-536-9461.
Guided tours of the dwellings will continue to
be held daily at noon.
April 28th National Junior Ranger Day
National Park Week April 22nd-29th takes its
theme Your National Parks: Explore, Learn, and
Protect from the Junior Ranger motto. As always,
kids of all ages are encouraged to complete the
Junior Ranger Book while they tour the dwellings
to earn a badge and certificate. On National
Junior Ranger Day there will be additional fun
and educational activities for the whole family
at the Gila Visitor Center from noon to 2pm. At
2:30pm, everyone is invited to attend a special
ceremony where a National Park Service Ranger
and the Forest Service’s Smokey Bear will ask
all Junior Rangers in attendance to help
assemble a time capsule (to be sealed on
November 16th, 2007, and not opened before 2057)
in honor of the Gila Cliff Dwellings Centennial.
All programs are free, however the dwellings
entrance fee of $3 per person 16 year and older
still applies. The trail through Gila Cliff
Dwellings National Monument is open
9:00am-4:00pm, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Guided tours of the dwellings are offered once
daily at noon. Please allow 20-30 minutes to
hike to the tour starting point. For more
information contact the Gila Visitor Center
505-536-9561 or
www.nps.gov/gicl.
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