Manitou Springs Cliff Dwelling

Over 100 years ago, there was a thriving tourist trade to Manitou Springs, Colorado.  And an enterprising entrepreneur thought,there must be a way to make a buck here ..

Bottling of the spring waters was taken, cave tours taken, tours of Garden of the God's taken, lots of hotels, eateries .... What was left?  Well, there was a piece of property with a tall cliff face and the base had eroded.  It looked like what Mesa Verde might have looked like before the Anasazi started building their cliff dwellings a thousand years ago!

Not known by many, there were numerous ruins in the area - old Indian dwellings, long abandoned often in the wrong place for the land owners.  He bought up eight of the ruins and then began reconstruction into his cliff face!

The result was an opportunity for tourists to see something that would have taken days if not weeks back then on horse back.  But, empty ruins are a bit boring so he contacted the remains of the Manitou Indians and got them to put on shows at his new site.  That was probably the best thing he did as he preserved something no one really knew or cared about back then ...

Along side of the cliff is a large "pueblo" building which today houses one of the better pottery collections I have seen, gift shops, etc.  The pottery was mostly donated by the Manitou, artifacts collected by the Indians through the years from the sites of the "ancient ones".  Further, the Indians were allowed to use the site, encouraged even.  Parties and celebrations, weddings and demonstrations were ongoing for over 50 years.  I guess there is still a close tie to the Manitou but the only American Indian there the day I visited was me and I am only 1/4th Umatilla!  LOL

There is an open air snack stand with typical fast food.  It is okay but honestly, Manitou Springs area really needs some solid food options!

The little museum is the shining star of this location - if not archaeology of Colorado!