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

Inscription.
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 • Native Americans • Parks & Recreational Areas.

Location. 36° 12.029′ N, 112° 3.372′ W. Marker is in North Rim, Arizona, in Coconino County. Marker can be reached from Grand Canyon Highway (Arizona Route 67) 43 miles south of U.S. 89A. Marker is located on the Transcept Trail, about ¼ mile northwest of the North Rim Visitor Center. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: North Rim AZ 86052, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other

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markers are within 10 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Grand Canyon Lodge, A Legacy Rebuilt (approx. ¼ mile away); Grand Canyon Lodge, 1928-1932 (approx. ¼ mile away); From Canvas to Castles (approx. ¼ mile away); a different marker also named Grand Canyon Lodge (approx. ¼ mile away); Kaibab Trail Suspension Bridge (approx. 9.9 miles away); How's the View? (approx. 9.9 miles away); The Mighty Colorado? (approx. 9.9 miles away); Stephen Tyng Mather (approx. 10 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in North Rim.

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.)

Marker detail: Clay Pot image. Click for full size.

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.

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2016

3. Summer Home Marker

Stone Foundation image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2016

4. Stone Foundation

(located beside marker)

Grand Canyon image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, June 11, 2016

5. Grand Canyon

(looking southwest from trail near marker)

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 142 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on December 29, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.