Comments on: Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

By: Busted

Busted — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:41:33 +0000

FYI to those who read this, the cameras are recorded. I know cause I got busted with a ticket in the mail 3 weeks after I tried this. Now I have to go to court.

By: Alisa

Alisa — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 22:08:10 +0000

I live near there. I live in Casa Grande, but the Casa Grande Ruins are actually in Coolidge. I have been to the ruins too often to count…they’re the only thing of remote interest that’s within a 20 minute drive. They really aren’t that exciting…at all. Actually, it’s ok the first time. You can go right up to it and touch the building. There are metal gates that block the entrances, but after being bored again for the nth time, I crawled under and went inside. If you’re skinny I’d suggest that you try it (be careful, there’s security cameras…get Grandpa to talk to the park ranger inside the museum and you’ll be good to go). Also, there are the most scenic Saguaro cacti that you’ll ever see in the parking lot. Great for pictures!

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 23:29:29 +0000

We had a nice visit there a few years ago during a week spent in Phoenix. Getting to Casa Grande from Interstate 10 requires a drive of 20 minutes or so through absolute desolation, for much of the 20 minutes with no human-built objects or structures visible except for the roadway on which you’re driving. Casa Grande itself is hardly desolate, in fact it’s located across the street from a Wal-Mart

By: William Eckley

William Eckley — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 20:21:00 +0000

The oval shaped area is indeed a “Ball field” as descibed at http://www.desertusa.com/ind1/ind_new/ind9.html

Excerpt from web page:
The Hohokam built more than 250 ballcourts at more than 150 of their larger communities in Arizona. The ballcourts, “are oval, bowl-shaped depressions that vary in size but average 80 to 115 feet in length and 50 feet in width. Berms of earth, up to 9 feet high, encircled the depression and were constructed using the excavated dirt. During a Hohokam ball game, dozens and perhaps hundreds of people could watch from the embankments surrounding the ball court. The largest Hohokam ballcourt, excavated in the mid-1930s at Snaketown, 20 miles south of Pueblo Grande [in Phoenix], was large enough for 500 people to line its banks.