Quarai
Quarai | |
Nearest city | Punta de Agua, New Mexico |
---|---|
Coordinates | 34°35′45″N 106°17′42″W / 34.59583°N 106.29500°W |
Area | 65 acres (26 ha) |
Built | 1200 |
Part of | Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument |
NRHP reference No. | 66000498[1] |
NMSRCP No. | 238 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
Designated NHLD | June 13, 1962[2] |
Designated NMON | December 19, 1980 |
Designated NMSRCP | February 1, 1972 |
Quarai, also known historically as Quarai State Monument, is a prehistoric and historic unit of the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument located north of Mountainair, New Mexico. A National Historic Landmark District, it encompasses the archaeological remains of prehistoric Native American settlements, historic remains of a pueblo that was abandoned in the 1670s during the Spanish colonial period, the ruins of a 17th-century Spanish mission compound, and 19th-century Spanish ranching artifacts. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962, and was added to the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument in 1980.
Description and history
The Quarai ruins are located in central New Mexico, in a rural desert setting about 8 miles (13 km) north of Mountainair, where the main visitors center for the Salinas Pueblos National Monument is located. The largest features of the ruins are the main pueblo and the walls of the mission church, which was probably one of the largest wall and beam structures in North America.[3] The walls range in thickness from three to six feet, and probably reached a height of 40 feet (12 m).[4] Also present are mounds representing the archaeological sites of earlier buildings, and two extremely rare examples of fortified plazuela sites, Spanish colonial-style ranch sites developed in the 1820s and 1830s.[3]
The Quarai were a
The ruins were acquired by the state in the 1930s and stabilized. They were operated by the state as a monument until they were taken over by the National Park Service in the 1980s, when the Casa Quiveras National Monument was expanded and renamed the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.[3]
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Torrance County, New Mexico
- List of National Historic Landmarks in New Mexico
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "National Historic Landmarks Survey, New Mexico" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e ""In the Midst of a Loneliness": The Architectural History of the Salinas Missions" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
- ^ Francine Weiss (April 28, 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Quarai / Quarai State Monument" (pdf). National Park Service.
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