Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Located in Coolidge, Arizona, this small national monument is dedicated to preserving the remains of an ancient Hohokam era farming village and the Great House constructed here.

This facility is free to access and consists of a visitor center/ museum with a theater before heading out to the ruins.

Great House

This magnificent building has survived the desert since around the year 1150. Granted it’s had a little help from the National Park System over the years. Between the canopy (originally built by the CCC in the 1930’s) and periodic wall stabilization efforts, it’s still around for us to visit. Thank you!

For me, it is an opportunity to marvel at these ancient people’s sheer determination to survive. As well as their incredible ingenuity to create whatever they wanted or needed from the materials around them.

There is still much debate as to why this building was constructed as well as the purpose it served. All that can be agreed upon, is that all four walls line up perfectly with the four points of the compass; and that there are openings in the walls that line up perfectly with the sun and moon at significant times of the year (i.e. summer solstice).

Surrounding buildings

The surrounding buildings could be homes, storage buildings, meeting rooms, or anything else. We may never know.

Museum

The museum provides a wealth of knowledge on these people and the lives they may have lived. There are many artifacts on display, showing the farming implements used, how they dug canals to water their fields, as well as the incredible pottery, jewelry, baskets, and other items created.

Visit

This spot is very small and can easily be accomplished in an hour or two depending on how much you want to take in. The movie offered in the theater is worthwhile, and I would recommend seeing it before heading out to the ruins. We went to the ruins first, to catch a volunteer led tour; and really wish we’d done it other way around.

It’s a worthwhile stop on the way to or from somewhere; but it’s definitely not a destination place.