Holly Group

Holly Tower appears to erupt out of the boulder it was built upon, standing tall in the center of Keeley Canyon.

NPS photo / Sierra Coon

Holly is Hovenweep’s most popular outlying unit. Whether it’s because of the petroglyph panel or the impressive architecture, visitors are drawn to this small site. Holly is the only outlying unit accessible via hiking trail from the Square Tower Group.

 

 

Visiting Holly

Getting There

Stop at the visitor center for updated road conditions, directions, and a map.

The Holly site is located down an unimproved BLM road off of County Rd 10, 4 miles north of Hovenweep’s visitor center and campground. High clearance vehicles are strongly recommended.

Hiking is required to see Holly. There is a short trail that leads from the dirt parking area, about 0.44 mile (0.7 km) roundtrip. A longer, primitive trail that leads from Hovenweep’s campground in the Square Tower Group is 7 miles (11 km) roundtrip.

Available Services

There is no restroom, campground, visitor center, trash receptacle, or water available at the Holly site, so come prepared. All of these services are available at the visitor center.

 

Visit With Respect

Hovenweep protects significant cultural sites. These places continue to be an important part of the Pueblo peoples' culture. When you visit, be respectful, and follow the regulations that help protect this special landscape.

• Stay on defined trails at all times.
• Do not touch or enter any structure or archeological site.
• Leave everything where you found it. If you do find an artifact, leave it be and tell a ranger.

 

What’s in a Name?

Local rancher James Holly acquired land in McElmo Canyon, near Hovenweep, in 1894. He set up a homestead and a small trading post there. This post eventually became the famous Ismay Trading Post, which operated for almost 100 years. Holly earned the favor of early archeologists by hosting them while they explored the Hovenweep area. His land was a good place to camp and access sites. His generosity inspired archeologists to name the Holly site after him.

Features & Archeology

Native people have known about and visited Hovenweep since its construction, but the first written documentation of the Holly site was done by T. Mitchell Prudden in 1903. The group is centered around the head of the north fork of Keeley Canyon and includes masonry from five single-level structures, three towers, several depressions that may be kivas, a dam, and a retaining wall. This area was primarily used during the Pueblo II-III period, between 900 and 1300 CE.

Many of the masonry structures at Holly were built on large boulders detached from the canyon rim. Perhaps the most impressive is Holly Tower, a two-story, two-room masonry tower built on a very large boulder within the drainage at the canyon head. Its foundation follows the contours of the boulder so that the tower almost appears to grow out of the rock. It seems people accessed the tower from below. Steps cut into the boulder lead from the canyon floor to a door near the bottom of the structure.

 

Holly's petroglyph panel marks the summer solstice. The marker is a mix of natural landscape (the boulders) and works of people (the petroglyphs).

NPS Photo / Austin Tumas

Solstice Petroglyph Panel

This is the only petroglyph panel visible from a hiking trail in the park. The panel is often called the sun panel or solstice panel because it appears to mark the summer solstice using sunlight and shadow. Just after sunrise on the solstice, two beams of light hit the Holly Unit’s petroglyph panel and bisect the carved spirals and circles. As the sun continues to rise, the entire panel is lit by sunlight. The panel’s location tucked between two large boulders allows this to happen only on and around the summer solstice. It’s a marvel of nature and people – the boulders are there naturally, and the ancestral Puebloans who lived here were observant enough to notice and mark this special occasion.

Life at Holly

The ancestral Puebloan lifestyle centered around growing staple crops like squash, beans, and especially corn. Without rainfall, these crops cannot survive. Tribal consultants from some descendant communities suggest that Holly, like the other units at Hovenweep, was a ceremonial space to pray for rain during a great drought.

The petroglyph panel at Holly may have served an important role in ceremony by marking the date. Corn plants develop their kernels in the summer, so it is essential for the plants to receive enough water at this time of year. Tribal consultants have indicated that a trained timekeeper could use a device like the petroglyph panel to inform religious leaders when it was time to call the rain.

Modern Pueblo people conduct prayer and ceremony throughout the year, and Hovenweep may have seen year-round ceremony too. For rain to fall here during the summer, water must evaporate months earlier from faraway oceans and seas. Tribal consultants explain that their ancestors understood this larger climate system and prayed for all of these processes. Other tools at Hovenweep, like portholes in the sides of some towers, are aligned with the sun and stars just like the petroglyph panel. They may have supplemented the knowledge available from the panel to help religious leaders time their annual cycle of prayer.

Part of the Park

The Holly unit was included in the 1923 Presidential proclamation that designated Hovenweep as a national monument.

 

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Other Places to Go

 

Hovenweep's Home Base

Square Tower Group