Gran Quivira is located 25 miles southeast of Mountainair in the middle of nowhere but it boasts beautiful views of the surrounding landscape. There is a short and winding path through the Church, Convent, & Ruins which showcases the pueblo, the kivas, and the Spanish influence on its construction. Gran Quivira is also known as Las Humanas and it is the largest of the three Salinas Pueblo Units. It was an important trade center for Puebloans and Plains Indians.

There are older ruins that predate the 1300s, but the first major construction at the site by the Ancestral Puebloans who had come from the Four Corners Area began then. By 1598, Oñate would ask for their submission to the Spanish. Construction of the first mission began in 1629 and the Iglesia de San Isidro was finished in 1635. A larger church, San Buenaventura would be built shortly after that. By 1672, disease, drought, and fierce Apache Raids forced the abandonment of the Pueblo and Churches by the 500 or so Spanish and Puebloan residents.

From the Ruins, you can see the Manzano Mountains, Sierra Blanca in the Sacramento Mountains, and Gallinas Peak.

For more information on the Puebloans, their migrations, and the Spanish in New Mexico, listen to my historical podcast which covers these topics in depth.