Mesa Verde has been voted Sunset Travel Award's 2015 Winner for Best Cultural Attraction
In the dramatic high desert of southwest Colorado, Mesa Verde seems custom-built for bucket lists: a series of mysteriously abandoned, beautifully preserved pueblos that reflect the daily life, religious traditions, and architectural achievements of the Ancestral Puebloans.
| A.D.550 | Ancestral Puebloans establish first pit houses atop easily defended mesas. |
| 1100 - Late 1200 | More than 600 adobe and cut-stone cliff dwelings built, such as the 150-room Cliff Palace. |
| 1270 - 1300 | Inhabitants migrate south, leaving behind villages, farm structures, storage units, and ceremonial kivas. |
| 1906 | Teddy Roosevelt establishes national park to protect some 4,700 archaeological sites. |
| 1978 | Park named one of 12 original World Heritage Sites as a “living link” to the past. |