Manitou Cliff Dwellings

The Manitou Cliff Dwellings are comprised of ancestral Puebloan ruins dating back 800-1000 years. The 40-room site was originally located near McElmo Canyon, in the southwest corner of Colorado near Mesa Verde. The process of relocating these cliff dwellings began in 1904 and was completed in 1907 when the preserve was opened to the public. Virginia McClurg, the original founder of the Colorado Cliff Dwellers Association, hired William Crosby and the Manitou Cliff Dwellings Ruins Company to map out the dwellings in and around Mesa Verde and McElmo Canyon. They wanted to preserve and protect the Ancestral Puebloan architecture from looters and relic pot-hunters. Prior to the 1906 Antiquities Act, the Federal Government did not get involved in protecting these historic sites. The three-story pueblo structure demonstrates the architecture of the Taos Pueblo Indians of New Mexico.