North Rim in Coconino County, Arizona — The American Mountains (Southwest)
Summer Home
Grand Canyon National Park
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2016
1. Summer Home Marker
Built more than 900 years before the Grand Canyon Lodge, the foundations of this small, two-room dwelling provide a glimpse of the kinds of lodging used by ancestral Puebloan farmers of the North Rim. These native farmers built field houses like this one for shelter while they tended their fields of corn, beans, and squash. The high-elevation farmers took advantage of late winter snows, deep planting techniques, and locations along the canyon rim to maximize the frost-free days needed for a successful crop. During the winter months, they moved to the warmer environments of the canyon, where they could harvest two more crops within the year.
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Agriculture • Anthropology & Archaeology • Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Parks & Recreational Areas.
Location. 36° 12.029′ N, 112° 3.372′ W. Marker is in North Rim, Arizona, in Coconino County. It can be reached from Grand Canyon Highway (Arizona Route 67) 43 miles south of U.S.
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Regionally, this marker is in Flagstaff & High Country and in Hopi. It is also in the American Southwest, in the Mountain West, in Colorado Plateau, and at the Four Corners. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain and also Mexicos Alta California.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Grand Canyon Lodge, A Legacy Rebuilt (approx. Ό mile away); Grand Canyon Lodge, 1928-1932 (approx. Ό mile away); From Canvas to Castles (approx. Ό mile away); a different marker also named Grand Canyon Lodge (approx. Ό mile away); North Kaibab Trail (approx. 1.2 miles away); Promoting Tourism on the North Rim (approx. 4½ miles away); Maintaining Mountain Meadows (approx. 4½ miles away); Greenland Lake (approx. 4.7 miles away). Touch
2. Marker detail: Clay Pot
Late spring snowmelt on the North Rim allowed crop seeds to germinate in moist soils. In some areas of the Southwest, archaeologists think the farmers packed snow in clay pots — like this one — to keep plants watered before the arrival of summer monsoon rains.
Regarding Summer Home. These people made decorated pottery that they used for carrying and storing water and as a safe storage for food and seeds. They were farmers as well as hunters. There were over 2,000 sites left behind at the Grand Canyon that have been studied to date. It is thought that the people came to the North Rim to farm and then returned back down into the canyon for the winter.
Also see . . . Humans at Grand Canyon. Arizona State University website entry (Submitted on November 15, 2023, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2016
3. Summer Home Marker
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2016
4. Stone Foundation
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2016
5. Grand Canyon
Credits. This page was last revised on November 15, 2023. It was originally submitted on December 28, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 301 times since then and 17 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on December 29, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
