History Off the Beaten Path: In the Shadow of Ancient History

The tiny, remote 90-year-old post office still serves in national park.

Take a step into history by visiting the Mesa Verde, Colo. post office, located in such a remote area that it has its own zip code. Courtesy of Deena Bouknight

I was not dissuaded by the unexpected snow storm and frigid temperatures to take a recently planned March trip to Mesa Verde National Park. After entering the newly snow-plowed park gate road, I drove cautiously the 20-plus miles to first check out Mesa Top—the site of ancient dwellings that are conceivably to the United States what the pyramids are to Egypt in terms of architectural resourcefulness.

In this remote area of southwestern Colorado, near the Utah border, there exists the fascinating remnants of ancient pit dwellings and, most phenomenal of all, cliff dwellings. Their ingenious construction using rocks and clay bricks, air chamber engineering, kiva storage compartments, and much more is astonishing enough, but the fact that pueblo peoples built these elaborate communities into sheer cliffs thousands of years ago defies understanding.