Jemez State Monument is a special place to learn about the history of the Jemez Mountain Trail area. This monument has exhibitions and self-guided tours. Ranger-guided tours are also given upon request. Currently, over 500,000 people visit this and Bandelier National Monument every year.
The pueblo was first built in the AD 1500s by ancestors of the modern residents of Jemez Pueblo. The Jemez people lived a typical Southwestern lifestyle for that time. They raised corn, beans and squash in Jemez Canyon along the Jemez River and also up on the nearby mesas. They hunted deer, rabbits, elk, and other game from the forests. They had plenty of water from the Jemez River, and hot springs nearby. In the best of times they may have had a somewhat idyllic life, but the climate could be fickle.
Jemez State Monument consists of the ruins of an ancient pueblo of the Jemez people known as Giusewa and the ruins of a 17th Century Spanish mission known as San Jose de los Jemez. The mission had a unique octagonal-shaped bell tower. There is a museum and signed trail at the Monument, which is part of New Mexico State Monuments.