Chimney Rock: This place matters

Posted

As one of Colorado’s newest national monuments, Chimney Rock is a place of mystery, a sacred place, a celestial observatory and seasonal calendar for the Ancestral Puebloans over 1,000 years ago. Chimney Rock is a place of unparalleled natural beauty sitting on a high mesa at the southern edge of the San Juan Mountains and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970. The monument encompasses 4,726 acres, preserving hundreds of prehistoric sites that dot the landscape around the twin spires known as Chimney Rock and Companion Rock.

But it’s not just Chimney Rock National Monument’s natural, cultural and spiritual significance that make it such an essential part of our community: Chimney Rock has also been a driver of much-needed economic growth to southwestern Colorado.

The full version of this story is available in the print edition and e-edition of the Pagosa Springs SUN. Subscribe today by calling (970)264-2100 or click here.