Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
Thursday, 20th October 2005 by Alex Turnbull
This is the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, a few kilometres east of my last post, in Arizona. The monument consists of the ruins of multiple structures constructed by the Hohokam, farmers who lived here from the early 1200s.
In our first thumbnail you can see the outlines of the walls of some village buildings, and just to the south-west of these is an oval-shaped area which seems to have been a sports-field of some kind.
The 'Casa Grande' itself is what remains of a four story structure that may have been abandoned by the mid-1400s (its name means 'big house' in Spanish). You can clearly see it in our thumbnail... or rather, you can clearly see the roof that was built in the 1930s to protect it.
There's a good ground-level shot on the Wikipedia page, and the official site has lots more information.
Thanks to Eric, Jeff Burton and William.
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
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.
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 🙂
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!
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.