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Visiting Acoma, New Mexico, America's Oldest Continually Inhabited City
Rate it! Votes (14) | Comments (0) By Chuck Burnes Photos: Chuck Burnes Posted August 6th, 2007 FabulousFoods.com Recommends: Frommer's New Mexico (Frommer's Complete), by Lesley S. King, (2007, Frommer's)	Frommer's New Mexico (Frommer's Complete)

ACOMA, NEW MEXICO -- Having been born and raised in New England, I was well aware of the old Pilgrim homes dating back to the 1600's which are still inhabited near Plymouth, Massachusetts. As a child, I had also studied about the ancient Indian ruins throughout the southwest. What I did not know, however, was that the Pilgrim homes are not the oldest continuously inhabited homes in the United States. Acoma Pueblo predates them by at least 450 years and I had never heard of it until my wife and I were driving home to Southern California after visiting Albuquerque.

Located about a forty minute drive east of Grants, New Mexico, and 12 miles south of Interstate 40, lies the picturesque city of Acoma (AH-koo-ma), built on a massive sandstone mesa 367-feet above the valley and approximately 7,000 feet above sea level.

Legend describes Acoma as a "place that always was" but native verbal history says it was first inhabited about 700 A.D. Archaeologists agree that it has most certainly been continuously occupied from at least 1150 A.D. to the present.

Because the Apaches and Navajos used to raid nearby villages during harvest time to steal the crops and take the women and children, area settlers abandoned their nearby pueblos in search of an impregnable barrier against enemy attack. They named their 70-acre mountain top settlement "Acoma" which translates to "Place of readiness".

Francisco Vasques de Coronado's army visited Acoma in 1540 and he became the first white man to enter the pueblo. Problems soon arose but the numerical superiority of the Spaniards proved too much, resulting in the community's surrender. Nearly destroyed by the Spanish in 1599, Acoma was quickly re-established by ancestors of its present occupants.

The Sky City
Visitors to "The Sky City", as it's called, can still see how the Acoma people lived centuries ago because more than a dozen of the original families still live in a similar fashion atop the mesa year-round.

The social order at Acoma is composed of a number of clans, each recognized through the mother's lineage. Oral Indian tradition tells us of the emergence of human beings from the underworld - the Shipapo. In the beginning, there were two sisters, Nautsiti and Iatiku, who gave birth to all living things. Henceforth, they all multiplied. The sisters parted and Nautsiti journeyed to the East while Iatiku fostered the Pueblo ways. As Iatiku's children were born, each was given a clan name.

Each clan assumes a necessary function in the ceremonial and social activities as well as in the political system of the Pueblo. The elders of each clan ensure that discipline and traditions are continued through succeeding generations. Everyone in turn is responsible for the total tribal life. When the oldest female in a clan dies, ownership of the home is passed down to her youngest daughter.

Originally, there were 18 clans living on the mesa. Today, there are 14 clans consisting of 30 people on the mesa and about 1150 others living in villages throughout the immediate area.

The original homes were three stories high. The first floor was used for storage, the second for sleeping and the third for cooking. A block-wide section of these homes still exists. Most of the others, however, are one or two stories high. They still have dirt floors. A combination of dirt and straw is used to plaster the outside walls. Originally, slices of mica were used for windows to allow light inside. It wasn't until the late 1920's that they were replaced with glass.

The city has never had the luxury of running water. Water is still carried up in buckets from the base of the mesa. Now, however, it comes up by family car. A series of wooden and fiberglass outhouses can be seen at one end of the pueblo. Although electricity has never been introduced to the mesa, some families do have generators, primarily because of their school-age children. A county bus transports them to nearby schools.

Ninety percent of the occupants are Catholic but they also still practice the Acoma religion. The San Esteban Del Rey Mission was built there in 1629 under the direction of Friar Juan Ramirez and was completed in 1640. According to legend, Friar Juan gained entrance to Acoma when he saved an infant from a fall off the edge of the mesa as he approached. His delivery of the child back to its mother was considered a miracle. The building of the mission represents a tremendous amount of toil. All building materials from tens of thousands of tiny grains of sand to heavy hand-cut timbers from Mount Taylor, 30 miles away, had to be carried or hauled up the steep slopes of the mesa. The religious remnants on view inside the mission date from the mid-1600's to the later 1800's.

Many of the Acoma people are artists who produce the famous and highly priced Acoma pottery. Using native white clay, they mold, etch and paint unique red, white and black designs on various types of thin-walled pots. You'll also find commercially cast pots adorned with traditional designs. Several families sell the items directly to those who visit the pueblo.

The Hollywood Connection
Hollywood didn't discover Acoma until 1929 when the Paramount & Famous Lasky Studio sent a film crew to Acoma to shoot Redskin starring Richard Dix as "Wing Foot" and Gladys Belmont as "Corn Blossom". The only way to the top of the mesa was via a series of ancient footholes carved into the rock. Because they needed to get their equipment, cast and crew onto the mesa's top, they were given permission to build a dirt road up the side of the giant mesa. The road wasn't paved until 1993.

Hollywood still uses the area. Scenes of Acoma can be seen in Flap, My Name is Nobody, Showdown at Big Sky and Way Out West as well as a number of television commercials.

How to Go to Acoma
The Pueblo of Acoma's "Sky City" tours are privileges granted by the Acoma Tribal Council and Tribal Administration. The visitors center with its museum, gift shop and restaurant is located at the base of the mesa.

Escorted tours of "Sky City" are available, daily, except July 10-13 and the first and second weekends in October. Tours operate 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., November through March and 8:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M., April through October. In addition to the nominal ticket prices, there is a p charge for still cameras. The last daily tour starts one hour before closing. Group rates are also available. For further information, write to the Acoma Tourist Visitor Center, P.O. Box 309, Acoma, NM 87034 or call (800) 747-0181. Schedules change frequently and without warning, so be sure to call before visiting to avoid disappointments.

How to get there:
From Grants, New Mexico, travel east on Interstate 40 to exit #102. Travel south on route 30 to Acomita and south on route 32 to the visitors center.

From Albuquerque travel west on Interstate 40 to exit #108 and south on route 23 to the Visitors Center.

Chuck Burnes is a theatrical agent and producer of variety and magic shows, when he isn't busy travel writing.

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