Jemez State Monument

Jemez State Monument is at the site of an abandoned pueblo and its mission church in Jemez Springs. The pueblo was built in the 1300's, the mission around 1610 to serve the Native Americans who still inhabited the pueblo. So the massive stone walls you see in the photos on this page were being built about the same time the Pilgrims were landing at Plymouth Rock.

The site is in narrow San Diego Canyon. The pueblo was originally built by the ancestors of today's Jemez Indians. The Spanish brought typical European diseases with them and the drastic reduction in population of the tribe caused them to evict the missionaries and rebuild their own village on a new site.

Today, the ruins of the pueblo and the mission lie just outside the town of Jemez Springs. There is a quarter-mile interpretive trail that gives folks access to the ruins and lets them look around.

Jemez State Monument is located along New mexico Highway 4 (the Jemez Mountain Trail Scenic Byway) about 43 miles north of Bernalillo.

Admission: $3 per person age 17 and up. Sunday admission is free for New Mexico residents with ID. Ages 16 and under are always free. Jemez State Monument is open from 8:30 am to 5 pm, Wednesdays through Sundays, closed Tuesdays.