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Welcome to Salinas Pueblo Missions

Once, thriving American Indian trade communities of Tiwa and Tompiro speaking Puebloans inhabited this remote area of central New Mexico. Early in the 17th-century Spanish Franciscans visited the area and found it ripe for their missionary efforts. However by 1677 the entire Salinas District, was depopulated of both Indian and Spaniard alike.

 
Stone metate shown on floor of ruins

Cultural Resources

What remains today are austere yet beautiful reminders of the early contact between Pueblo Indians and Spanish Colonials. The ruins of four mission churches, at Quarai, Abó, and Gran Quivira and the partially excavated pueblo of Las Humanas or, as it is known today, Gran Quivira. Established in 1980 through the combination of two New Mexico State Monuments and the former Gran Quivira National Monument, the present Monument comprises a total of 1,100 acres.
 
Bird sitting in a branch of a tree

Natural Resources

Salinas Pueblo Missions was set aside because of the importance of the cultural resources, however, there is a major connecting link to the natural resources. The link is the importance of man's adjustment to a marginal land and the man-land relationship during the past 1,000+ years of occupation.
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Visitors enjoying the area

Things To Do

Learn about what makes Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument a special place through self guiding booklets and wayside exhibits.

Bird watching and hiking are also popular activities.
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Students learning about the park

Educational Activities

One of three educational activities, at Quarai students learn about the Mission Experience. With this activity students are asked to look, observe and create as they build a Lego model of the mission during their on-site activity.

 

Write to

P.O. Box 517
Mountainair, New Mexico 87036

Phone

Telephone
(505) 847-2585

Fax

(505) 847-2441

Climate

CLIMATE, RECOMMENDED CLOTHING: Generally mild, dry summers, occasional snow in winter, fierce winds in spring. Walking shoes and sportswear in summer, light outerwear in winter are recommended.
Communities Surrounding Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument
Note: The times listed below are approximate driving times to the park.
Claunch, NM (22 min. )
Mountainair, NM (46 min. ) Pop. 1,116
Corona, NM (52 min. ) Pop. 165
Willard, NM (59 min. ) Pop. 240
 Coyote, NM (1 hr.  4 min. )
Luna, NM (1 hr.  5 min. ) Pop. 25,016
Estancia, NM (1 hr.  10 min. ) Pop. 1,584
Torreon, NM (1 hr.  16 min. ) Pop. 297