Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park

Wow! Right across the street from the hotel. The light rail is at the entrance (kitty corner). 6 bucks is the adult fee. Not bad at all. Awesome artifacts, nature walk, history, short video, interactive kids section. They have a changeable art exhibit. Well worth the hour and half. TAKE the kids if you got em. No animals (dont want any pee/​poo on the premises) it’s ancient artifacts. The have a gift shop featuring local artitists. Their prices are extremely high but there are a few smaller priced things there. Bery friendly and helpful staff.

My husband and I came here on a mild Saturday afternoon. They were having a special event so our admission was free (it is usually $ 6 for adults). We walked through the museum and art gallery. The museum was small but interesting, it had quite a bit of artifacts. The photo gallery seemed very out of place in the museum, the photos were great but I don’t see how they tied in with the ruins. I was underwhelmed by the ruins, I was expecting something more grand (probably my fault since they are just a little old). We were there for about an hour before my husband was itching to go. If we had kids, it would have been a great learning experience with a variety of hands on activities going on.
Will I go again? Probably not, but it was quick, cheap and something different to do on a Saturday afternoon.

I checked this place out a few months ago. I believe the cost was about $ 6 a person to get in. There were very few people there when my friend and I were walking around. It is not my favorite museum but I do love to learn about history so for me I still had a great time. If you have a free afternoon and feel like strolling around taking some pictures with the family then you should give this place a shot.
Also, The gift shop was lacking, hope they add more items.

Been to better museums. It’s very stagnant. Nothing really overwhelmingly interesting that you couldn’t read on a book. I’d recommend watching their video which sums up the entire archeological park.

I understand that it’s over 1000 years old, but I guess I found it unsatisfying that we don’t know why they built these mounds. It was still neat to see and I enjoyed the replicas of the «suburban» dwellings. The museum was neat too, it’s nice to see their pottery and shell jewelry after you imagine their «story» from viewing the ruins.
The thoughts about how these people lived their daily lives lingers with you after you leave. It’s something you can’t experience from a book.
You can do this in about an hour, 2 tops if you walk slowly.

I gave a bad review to the Heard Museum so wanted to balance this with a better museum. This one is a good educational experience, balanced and historic about the ancient civilizations of Central Arizona. The outdoor areas include living history, with an old canal from the ancestors of the modern day Pima Indians and an old ball court. It’s also family friendly and has a good conference center. Take an out of town visitor to this museum as a good way of showing them the history of the valley.

We went a few weeks ago and it was definitely too hot. Wait for the weather to cool off before going. On the bright side, they have umbrellas you can borrow while outside! It was interesting to see the ruins, especially within view of the highway. Really makes you think!

Outdoor museum so don’t go in the summer. Took a class field trip here and the docent spoke clearly and was very patient with all my students. She was well informed and knew how to navigate the hundreds of questions a group of 8 year olds will ask. The museum is a must for gaining a deeper appreciation of the rich history that truly exists in this young city.

We went to this museum after seeing multiple articles about it online. Overall, it was a really disappoint experience. There wasn’t much to see — the museum was alright as far as the exhibits displayed go, but the walk outside wasn’t that interesting. All the signs during the walk were really shiny making it ridiculously difficult to read the words … Not sure why the AZ sun wasn’t taken into account when making those. If you’re looking to waste some time & have absolutely nothing else to do, sure, this will take up your time, but there are many other options that are worth the money & time.

Definitely a museum of culture.
We stayed at the hotel across the street, we were looking to pass the time between checking out and going to the airport. Easy walk through outside and in. I’m glad we got to stop by. Perfect, relaxing and casual ending to our trip.
Definitely learned things. My fave part were the artifacts on the inside. The pictures of haunted places was really cool too!

An easy thing to do if you’re in the area and looking to burn time, but thought it’d be a little more interesting than it actually was. I guess looking at really old structures and reading hypothesis’ on what they could’ve been used for may be your thing, but in this case it wasn’t mine.

So apparently I didn’t do my homework and Pueblo Grande DOES have stuff for the little kids. The scavenger hunt that I brilliantly suggested? Yeah, they have that already. Evidently a little snooping around beforehand would have been beneficial to our visit, as I would have discovered all of the stuff that they’ve already prepared for the little ones. So I guess it is a really great place, after all!

This is clearly a hidden gem. Props to Phoenix for keeping these ruins as a tourist attraction. Learning more about the HOHOKam tribe also made me learn why the Cubs never win. This tribe disappeared back in 1450 and nobody know exactly why or what happened. The Cubs named their spring training park after this tribe, so you can see the anaology hopefully. It is 6 bucks to enter and after a short movie, hit the trail to see what’s left of this tribe. My favorite part was looking at the ancient ballfield and wondering what went down in those gladiator arena’s years ago. Actually, it was supposedly a marketplace, but there were photos of athletic games taking place also. These Indian tribes were smart back in the day and the canals and structures built were truly a marvel of their times.

This is quite an amazing place, right in the heart of Phoenix.
It was once the site of a Village for the local inhabitants of the Valley.
It luckily has been perserved for all to see.
It is only $ 6.00 for adults, and $ 5.00 for seniors, $ 3.00 for kids, Really young kids are free. It is open Monday thru Saturday from 9:00 till 4:45pm. and Sunday from 1:00pm till 4:45. I know strange hours. But, from May till Sept. they are closed on Sunday and Monday, the hours change. I guess because, of the extreme heat.
Parking in the back,. good place to go and learn about the history of the place you live. Or even if you are visiting.

As a preface … I love this sort of thing — love looking at history and love ruins so when we were in town visiting I had to come here.
I had my expectations low since it’s in the middle of the city and seemed like it might be small…
However, I liked it a lot. There’s a little bit of ruins you can actually walk through and try to imagine what happened. They also had some replicas of buildings from way back when and that was neat to walk through as well. The museum part itself is small but had lots of information about the people that used to live there.
For a small museum in the middle of the city it was pretty informative.

Truly an educational gem, right in the heart of Phoenix. I learned the Hohokam resided here 2,000 years ago. Their architecture evolved through the ages. Astronomy seems to have played a role in their buildings. I’ve been saying their name incorrectly for 8 years. And the mystery of them abandoning the site remains a mystery.
:cue Twilight zone music:
This museum is the perfect size for those of us with short attention spans. I’ve wanted to come here for some times now, and we took advantage of the free Smithsonian Day coupons. I’ll likely come back, but will wait for the temperature to cool off more. Super fun for families, I’d imagine.

History is always with us. Especially in places like this small museum and archaeological site focusing on the mysterious Hohokam people, whose network of irrigation canals supported numerous settlements from about 450 CE to 1450 CE. You will discover that the more we learn about these early inhabitants of what would become southern Arizona, the more puzzling they become. Why did their culture suddenly vanish? Which contemporary Native people might be their descendants? Smack in the middle of a bustling modern city, with airplanes flying past on their way to the nearby Sky Harbor airport, this little gem is a place where one of history’s mysteries invites your exploration.
Check the website for opening times, as they vary with the season. There is a room with some nice exhibits and activities to teach kids about archaeology.

I’m giving 4 stars because I just love to find this many artifacts of the basket and clay varieties when I visit a museum. It really amazes me, the craftmanship of our ancient peoples! This small museum is not part of the Science Museum circuit, so I wasn’t able to use my discount or member card, but for $ 6 I felt it was worth the trip to check it out. Some exhibits in the kids’ room have been duplicated and enhanced in the main museum hall, which was fun to compare. The outdoor area is actually a preserved portion of a reservation belonging to the Hohokum Indians and there are examples of the water distribution canals and housing styles from 300 years ago along the Salt River, AZ. Great, informative afternoon!

So I’ve only been here once, unless you count that time 20 years ago when i was there with my Girl Scout troop, and I really «dug» it. (Ok, I know puns are bad, but I’m feeling very punny today!)
But really, it’s a real pleasure to have places in Phoenix flaunt what an amazing, rich and ancient history our valley really does have. After all the quips I hear about how hot it is during Summer, it’s great to visit a museum filled with Arizona Awesomeness that I can flaunt to those Texans who swear their state is the best of them all. And this museum certainly does that.
Great pottery, docents and views make this museum a lovely place. I went for the Unilocal Helps event, and was blown away by how absolutely gorgeous this place is at night, and how the sounds of the city just disappear and transport you back to a time when the light rail and street lights were figments of people’s imaginations.
I can’t wait to schedule this into the cool places I’ll be taking my niece over Winter and Summer breaks!

Chances are, you’ve passed by the Pueblo Grande Museum over twenty times. Chances are, you’ve been right next door to it and didn’t even realize it. Chances are, you’ll pass by it again and still won’t realize it. Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s time to put this place on the map!
So I bet you’re wondering where Pueblo Grande is located. Well, believe it or not, it’s right on the corner of 44^th and Washington, caddy corner to the airport! See, I told you that you’ve passed by it several times without realizing! The Pueblo Grande Museum talks about the history of Arizona through the story of several tribes and different artifacts. It’s home to not only a museum, but also archeological grounds that you can walk through and see ancient tribal structures, ruins, artifacts and and learn how the native tribes lived. It’s not a massively large museum, but it’s not small either. It’s a great way to learn about the Arizona history that existed long before freeways and sushi bars. This is a good spot to visit if you want a crash course in some native Arizona history and in a setting where you actually walk through it.
It’s really fun and interesting to walk through the ruins and explore the history through the teepers, ancient housing materials, artifacts and mounds. I need to do plenty of more research on this museum and spend more time here to really walk away more knowledgeable. Luckily I now know it exists and will be back (when the weather is cool) with a notebook and pen in hand!