Abandoned village sites of the Ancestral Puebloans were discovered by settlers who came to the Moapa Valley in the 1800s Archeologists recovered some artifacts in 1920s but extensive excavations weren’t undertaken until the 1930s. Plans for the construction of Boulder Dam which would create Lake Mead meant that many of the villages would be under water and lost forever. The National Park Service teamed up with the Civilian Conservation Corp to recover artifacts and build a museum to display them. The museum has been expanded to include the excavated foundation of one of the dwellings. A semi circle of reconstructed dwellings is located on the grounds outside.
The museum contains many of the recovered artifacts along with information about Native American pueblos and abandoned mining towns. Push buttons start two short videos.
The museum is accessible. A sidewalk leads to the reconstructed dwellings which are not accessible.
The accessible parking space is long enough for RVs plus there’s an addition parking lot with room for RVs.
The drive to Overton along Route 169 is very scenic. Museum 36.53148, -114.4414
This looks interesting. We like museums like this, but summer is probably not the best time to be in the area!
ReplyDeleteYes, you definitely want to wait for the cooler weather. We've been camping at Main Street Station in downtown Vegas and at Las Vegas Bay campground above Lake Mead doing routine maintenance. It's been in the low 70s with sunshine - just right!
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