12 American Ruins And Their Incredible Stories

What Ruins?

Many places on our planet are well known for the ruins of ancient civilizations. While the US isn’t one of them… shouldn’t it be? For such a relatively young nation, our country has seen its fair share of historical cycles. Our architecture rarely goes back further than the 19th century, but there are rock carvings, wall paintings, and impeccably conserved pre-Columbian ruins all around the country.

In fact, America’s history way before 1776. When thinking about ancient ruins, where does your mind wander? The Parthenon in Greece? The Nazca Lines in Peru? You should be thinking no further than the US itself because significant numbers of ancient archeological sites are scattered across this country.

Some are enormous or incredibly complex, and some are even incredibly old. Let’s take a look at 12 Ruins in America and find out the stories behind them…Did YOU know about number 9?

Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico

There’s evidence that humans once inhabited this rough land of cliffs and canyons more than 11,000 years ago, but its remarkable structures were built by Ancestral Puebloans around AD 1150. The Los Alamos site is home to the ruin remains of stone walls, petroglyphs, and buildings expertly cut into sheer rock faces.

A system of ladders and stone steps provides access to Alcove House, a dizzying clifftop site that was once home to dozens of Ancestral Puebloans. The park has an extensive network of hiking trails that weave through the forest connecting different villages. You can find a visitor center with exhibits of pottery and tools used by the Native inhabitants here.

River House Ruin, Utah

You’d need a 4×4 or really great hiking boots to reach River House Ruin, a sandstone cliff dwelling built by Ancestral Puebloans between AD 900 and the late 1200s. The five-mile route from the highway is marked by deep sand and rocks. It’s well worth the effort, though. The early desert-dwelling consists of well-preserved rooms and some arranged over two stories tucked beneath the orange cliffs. There are hundreds of petroglyphs, including an image of Kokopelli, a fertility deity and trickster god, drawn with a flute and feathered headdress.

Also, around 30-minutes’ from River House Ruin near Bluff, you’ll find one of the finest surviving examples of Ancestral Puebloan wall art in Bears Ears National Monument. This petroglyph panel stretches for 100 yards and has rock art spanning more than 2,500 years. Images of fertility deity Kokopelli and a flute-playing bighorn sheep are marked onto the rock above clearer, more recent Ute and Navajo carvings.

Cahokia Mounds, Illinois

Spread across six square miles and with an estimated population of 20,000, Cahokia was once bigger than London. Or at least, London as it was in AD 1250 when North America’s first-known city touched its peak. The land is dotted with around 80 dirt mounds, with their origins shrouded in mystery.

An interpretive center and gallery reveal what is known about the ruins, located a few miles outside Collinsville. It’s believed to have been settled around AD 600, with a series of “Woodhenges,” calendars made with red cedar posts that line up with the rising sun on certain days of the year, built by the Cahokia around AD 1100.

Lapakahi State Historical Park, Hawaii

You’re not likely to find any Archaeological sites that are more scenic than Lapakahi State Historical Park on Hawaii’s North Kohala coast. This ancient fishing settlement is set against a backdrop of palm trees and shimmering blue waters and fringed by a striking beach with black and white stones.

There are also a series of trails with informational panels explaining the significance of the structures surrounding the area, such as canoe storage houses, religious shrines, and an ancient burial site, revealing the life of the fishing community, Koai’e, that occupied the land of these ruins in the 1300s.

…..Psst, check this out!

Serpent Mound Historical Site, Ohio

Something sinister appears to creep underneath the grass at this site in Peebles. Thankfully not real, this is the world’s most giant serpent effigy, a mound winding across a plateau in the shape of a snake. Though archaeologists haven’t pinpointed a specific culture or date, it’s believed that these ruins had to have been constructed by Native Ohioans, with estimates varying wildly from 321 BC to AD 1070.

Also, in Ohio, you’ll find Hopewell Culture. Various Native groups once gathered around this national historical park’s grassy mounds and enclosures for feasts and funerals. They were built around 2,000 years ago and contained structures up to 1,000ft wide. They’re preserved across six separate locations across the park.

Sign up for a ranger-led tour for an in-depth look at the structures and archaeology. Or, if you’re there during the summer, reflect on the site’s spiritual and cultural significance with a free outdoor yoga class.

Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Wyoming

Stone circles are usually shrouded in mystery. But, in northern Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest, Bighorn Medicine Wheel goes one step further and is covered in snow throughout the winter months. Come summer, it melts away to reveal limestone rocks strewed in a wheel shape with spokes encased in a large circle.

Some experts have dated the mountaintop ruin to at least AD 1300, and it forms part of a chain of American Indian archaeological sites up to 7,000 years old. It’s believed that the pattern was used to predict astronomical events, like the Summer Solstice, for example, though the truth remains something of an enigma.

Moundville Archaeological Park, Alabama

National Geographic has described Moundville as “The Big Apple of the 14th Century”. The 29 flat-topped dirt mounds, crafted by Native Mississippians about 800 years ago, may not quite measure up to the skyscrapers of our modern New York. Still, they speak of a sophisticated and advanced civilization.

Today this archaeological park, that’s on the Black Warrior River near Tuscaloosa, protects 326 acres of the grounds. You’ll find nature trails and paths that weave all around the ruins, which were once topped with the homes of nobles and ceremonial structures.

Chaco Culture, New Mexico

Ancestral Puebloans built what was effectively a massive trade center in the heart of the New Mexican desert. Chaco Culture consists of a series of large stone buildings which were constructed around AD 850 and is believed to have been used as a ceremonial and administrative center despite the arid landscape and long winters.

Typically, visitors can take ranger-led tours at these ruins to view the remains of the impressive multi-story “great houses” close up and to learn about the spiritual significance of the surrounding mountains and mesas. An International Dark Sky Park, it’s also an airy place to view the stars!

Montezuma Castle National Monument, Arizona

You may not find anything more impressive than the perch that is occupied by this old high-rise building tucked away into limestone cliffs of the Camp Verde desert. Montezuma Castle was built between AD 1100 and 1425 and occupied by the Sinagua people. They used it as a home, and it included 20 rooms.

It happens to be among the first of four sites given the name “National Monument” in 1906. For decades, visitors could get to these ruins via a series of cliffside ladders. But now, to prevent any further damage, you can only view it from the ground. There are other dwellings around Montezuma Well, six miles away, some more than 1,000 years old.

Poverty Point Historic Site, Louisiana

These dirt mounds at and around Poverty Point are beyond most others in size and age. The nearby Lower Jackson Mound has been dated to about 3900 BC. It’s thought that the impressive mounds and half-circles here were shaped by hand.

What isn’t yet known is the ruins’ purpose, though ongoing archaeological studies into the ground and artifacts suggest it may have been both a residential and trade center. Adding to the mystery, Poverty Point was abandoned sometime around 1100 BC, and another Native group moved in around AD 700, contributing another mound to the landscape.

Cliff Palace, Colorado

From a distance, Cliff Palace looks like a sprawling, intricate kid’s sandcastle city. Tucked away in a nook beneath the bluffs in Mesa Verde National Park, this Ancestral Puebloan ruin is believed to have been built sometime between 1190 and 1260 AD. It’s also the most significant known cliff dwelling in North America.

The palace’s many rooms and kivas, spaces used by Puebloans for meetings and religious rituals, are carved out of sandstone and held up by wooden beams and mortar. It’s incredibly well-preserved, but unfortunately, tours are only available with the park’s rangers.

…If you liked this location, check out: 11 Most Breathtaking Cliffs Around The US

Indian Cave Petroglyphs, West Virginia

In Harrison County, a small cave was explored in the 19th century, and inside the ruin, there were several incredible prehistoric petroglyphs. These petroglyphs portray many animals, including fish and rattlesnakes. Indian Cave is unique for its preserved state and has been described by archaeologists as “virtually unchanged.” The petroglyphs are noteworthy for their curious use of the color red, which can be found on many of these figures.

Archaeologists have concluded that the petroglyphs are the work of early Native Americans but weren’t able to identify precisely which culture. The pottery found inside the cave hints that it was occupied sometime between 500 and 1675 AD. Like other petroglyphs, the inspiration for their creation is unclear.

…Let us know in the comments below if you liked these locations, and tell us if you know of any others!

Also Read: Top 10 Captivating American Civil War Sites