• View of Spruce Tree House from overlook

    Mesa Verde

    National Park Colorado

Far View Sites

Near the Chapin Mesa Area (map), Self-Guided, No Fee Required

 
Pueblo site with kiva in foreground at Far View Sites
Far View House at Far View Sites Complex
NPS PHOTO
 
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Pueblo site at Far View Sites Complex

Far View Sites Complex

NPS PHOTO

Far View was one of the most densely populated parts of the mesa from A.D. 900 to about A.D. 1300. Nearly 50 villages have been identified within a half square mile area, and were home to hundreds of people. Today, several excavated and stabilized sites are linked by a trail system within a short walking distance. These surface sites include Far View House, Pipe Shrine House, Coyote Village, Far View Reservoir, Megalithic House, and Far View Tower.
 
Far View Sites in snow

Far View Sites in winter

NPS PHOTO

Ancestral Puebloans were living at Far View at least 200 years before they began building the more famous Mesa Verde cliff dwellings. Excavation also reveals that many Ancestral Puebloans chose to remain in their mesa top community well after many of their neighbors moved into the cliff alcoves.

Did You Know?

Photograph of Cliff Palace, 1895 - 1900 by WH Jackson

On a snowy December day in 1888, while ranchers Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason searched Mesa Verde’s canyons for stray cattle, they unexpectedly came upon Cliff Palace for the first time. The following year, the Wetherill brothers and Mason explored an additional 182 cliff dwellings.