It’s not a castle and Montezuma was never here!
This five-level, 20 room cliff dwelling “Montezuma Castle” nestled into a limestone recess high above Beaver Creek served as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Sinagua Indians over 600 years ago. It is one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. Erroneously (?) named for the 16th century Aztec ruler, the site is a classic example of the last phase of southern Sinagua occupation of the Verde Valley. Maybe early settlers, astounded by the sophisticated structures, mistook the dwelling for Aztec - and the name they ascribed to the "castle" still remains. Or was it simply a case of naming an impressive site after a famous name? Whichever the reason might be, as the oldest and best preserved cliff dwelling in the Southwest it is an impressive insight into the life of the Sinagua Indians who built it in the 12th century. A lot of questions will go through your mind when you look at the massive complex of 20 rooms that was built into a cliff high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek.
Sedona is in Texas? Not really….
It was actually Sedona Verde Valley soil that John Wayne's horse put his hoofs on when he rode through the “wide lands of Texas” in many of his movies! More than 90 feature films and countless video productions and commercials have been shot either in full or in part in the Greater Sedona area. Moviemaking in Sedona began in 1923, with Zane Grey's Call of the Canyon. In 1945, John Wayne came to town for his first stint as producer; Angel and the Badman costarred the beautiful Gail Russell. For this film Wayne had a western town set built in what is now the Sedona West residential subdivision. Streets there are named after later movies made here, like Johnny Guitar, Pony Soldier, and Gun Fury. Stars who worked in Sedona include Humphrey Bogart, Elvis Presley, Johnny Depp, Robert Deniro, Henry Fonda, Rock Hudson, and hundreds of others.
They simply disappeared…….
The word "Sinagua" is a contraction of the Spanish words "sin agua," or, "without water," an allusion to the arid country in which the tradition arose. The pronunciation of Sinagua is "seen aug wah." Between the 6th and the 15th centuries, the Sinagua people, who probably emerged from Yuman origins, occupied the Sedona Verde Valley region and built, what we call today, “Montezuma Castle & Well”, “Tuzigoot”, “V-Bar-V”, “Palatki” and “Honanki”. They practiced a rudimentary flood plain agriculture in the early centuries, irrigating their farm plots with systems of check dams and irrigation ditches. They supplemented their crops with hunting and gathering. The Sinagua culture as a distinct entity simply disappeared from the archaeological record after the 15th century. Where did they go? Why did they leave? What happened to them? Nobody knows the complete answer…. (did they leave because annual average rainfall diminished? .. but WHERE did they go?)
There are only a few
There are only a few of what? Vortexes! But what is a "Vortex"? A game created by Apple Inc. for the iPod System? Or a remix of songs by the group "Collide"? Or a revolving mass of water which forms a whirlpool? All and none of the above. A Vortex is an area that has high concentrated energy conducive to prayer, meditation and healing. A Vortex is a site where the spiritual energy is concentrated - a globally recognized power spot. There are only a few. Stonehenge is one, and the Great Pyramid, also Machu Picchu, and Sedona - Arizona's Scenic Sensation also known as “The Most Beautiful Place in America”. Not too familiar with metaphysical and spiritual experiences? That's OK, no need to know how to meditate. Sedona's Vortexes are such stunning and awe inspiring scenery that you and your readers will automatically be mesmerized. It will touch you, this Sacred Land of the Native American Indians.
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