Acoma Pueblo

On our quest for knowledge of the nineteen pueblos of the New Mexico area, we have gone to great heights. In fact, we ascended 367 feet above the desert floor to the oldest continuously inhabited city in the USA. Acoma, or Sky City, sits on a mesa overlooking the extended pueblo community. Access is by bus or by climbing a steep trail.















Acoma was first inhabited about 1150, possibly by people departing from Chaco Canyon. Their first brief settlement was on Enchanted Mountain, but a lightening strike damaged the staircase up that mesa and the people left, never returning.


While everyone in the pueblo has an ancestral home, only thirty to fifty elders choose to live year-round on the mesa, living without water or electricity. Other family members share the home for religious or family events. There is no male ownership, the youngest daughter inherits the family home and is responsible for those older than her.

The center area of the city is San Estaban del Rey Mission, built from 1629-1640 by forced tribal labor. It was built over the tribe’s largest kiva, intending to destroy the native religion. To protect the kiva as a center of traditional worship, Acoma people built square kivas next to their homes where they seemed like standard rooms. Today the mission is no longer a Catholic church but does serve as a religious center five times a year and is one of the places for traditional dances.

Jewelers and potters display their outstanding art work on tables along the dirt roads of the city. After enjoying the tour and purchasing some of the art, we again had a very good lunch at the Cultural Center back in the desert.