WASHINGTON—President Obama declared Chimney Rock, a massive sandstone outcrop in Colorado, a national monument on Friday, combining a site of spectacular landscape and Native American culture.
The 4,726-acre Chimney Rock National Monument features two sandstone spires rising up from a mesa, plus hundreds of ruins built by ancestral Pueblo people around 1,000 years ago.
“Chimney Rock draws thousands of visitors who seek out its rich cultural and recreational opportunities,” President Obama said in a statement Friday. “Today’s designation will ensure this important and historic site will receive the protection it deserves.”
The ruins include a tall, square 40-room ceremonial house, a standout among other simple, traditional circular houses. The building is the highest-elevation ceremonial “great house” in the Southwest, according to a statement from the Department of the Interior.
Every 18.6 years, the moonrise aligns with the site’s two spires, rising between the two peaks, an event visible from the ceremonial house.
Descendants of the Pueblo people return to their ancestral lands for spiritual and traditional reasons, but the ruins also attract many visitors.
“Thousands of people come every year to experience the cultural and spiritual significance of Chimney Rock,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
Chimney Rock is the third national monument designated by President Obama under the Antiquities Act.
Previous designations include Fort Monroe National Monument in Virginia, a former Army post that has significance in the history of slavery, the Civil War, and the U.S. military; and Fort Ord National Monument in California, a former military base containing some of the last undeveloped natural wildlands on the Monterey Peninsula.
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