Before we departed the town of Las Vegas we went to "the other side of town" and they are truly two different places. Remarkable how that happened and remains.
We traveled the pre-1937 Route 66 taking us through Pecos. First to settle in the Pecos area were pre-pueblo people who lived in pithouses then around 1100, the first Puebloans began building their rock-and-mud villages in the valley. Two dozen villages rose over the next two centuries, including one where the ruins of the Pecos pueblo we visited stands. Sometime in the 14th century the settlement patterns changed dramatically. Within one generation small villages were abandoned and Pecos pueblo grew larger. By 1450 it had become a well planned frontier fortress five stories high with a population of over 2,000. Location, power, and the ability to supply needed goods made Pecos a major trade center on the eastern flank of the Puebloan world. Pecos Indians bartered crops, clothing, and pottery with the Apaches and later the Spaniards and Comanche's for products.
Pecos National Historical Park preserves over 12,000 years of cultural history including not only the Pecos Pueblo but also Spanish mission ruins, the ruts of the Santa Fe Trail, the Forked Lighting Ranch and the Civil War Battle of Glorieta. Places we have been able to experience along Route 66 that I hadn't contemplated nor realized would come within our journey.
It was a great place to stop and hear some of New Mexico's history before we headed in to Santa Fe.
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