One of the reasons we chose Camp Verde, Arizona as a temporary home base for a while is a quick search revealed that it was spitting-distance from a huge amount of National Monuments and Historic Sites. We weren’t well-versed in the area, which made it seem like a perfect place to eat up shop and spend some time exploring.
After going to the Grand Canyon, Montezuma’s Castle was the first National Monument we went to. This was our kids’ first time to really experience some of the beauty of the ruins left behind by ancient people. Montezuma’s Castle is often described as a 20-room hi-rise apartment building. It was built by the Sinagua people sometime between 1100-1400 and it’s beautifully crafted about 90 feet up into the side of a limestone cliff.
The tour through the monument is a pleasant walk from the Visitors Center back by the ruins and then a loop by the river and back to the entrance. With the Visitors Center being closed due to COVID, there wasn’t a lot we could learn there, so we had to really focus on our own research and the Junior Ranger packets to dive into the history. It was interesting to watch the kids start to process how old these structures really are and what life might have been like to grow up there. It was an added bonus for us that we got to have grandparents along!!
