Villanueva State Park

The park's ground came from a community grant. The San Miguel del Vado land grant held this stretch of the Pecos in common, and in 1967 its board of trustees transferred tracts of it to the state to make the park, which later added land from the grant board and the Bureau of Land Management. The village the panel calls Spanish colonial was founded in 1808 as La Cuesta, for the slope it sits on above the river, and took the name of a local family, Villanueva, in 1890.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Villanueva State Park Couched between high red sandstone bluffs in a beautiful valley of the Pecos River, this park is located near the picturesque Spanish colonial village of Villanueva. The park offers hiking trails with historical markers and camping/picnicking sites.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pecos National Historical Park — 28 mi
  The red walls of a 1717 mission church inside the foundations of a far larger one, beside the kiva Pecos people dug in front of the old church during the revolt of 1680.

More markers nearby

• Mela Leger-Bilingual Education Pioneer — 17 mi
• Hogbacks — 18 mi
• Dr. Meta L. Christy — 24 mi
• Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert — 24 mi