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# A Lost Civilization at Casa Grande
- URL: https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/casa-grande-az/
- Published: 2012-05-01T17:55:58.000Z
- Updated: 2020-04-02T07:57:20.000Z
- Author: Jason
- Tags: Adventures, National Park, Van & RV Life, USA, All Videos, #wp, #Import 2023-10-03 16:11, #Import 2023-12-05 14:16

One of our favorite things about a **road trip** is the small stops along the way. We always bring up a map, look for **roadside attractions** or **national monuments** and add them as via points along our route. We’ve found some of our favorite oddities and towns this way. Casa Grande was just a short 20 min off our route and well worth the stop.

**Casa Grande** (Spanish for Big House) is the remains of a 4 story structure abandoned around 1450\. The national monument is multiple structures surrounded by a compound wall. The ancient **Sonoran Desert** people called “**Hohokam**” were an impressive tribe. They existed in a very harsh environment where they farmed the Gila Valley, developed wide-scale irrigation farming and extensive trade connections that lasted over a thousand years!

![Casa Grande National Monument](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/26/e9265740-cf9f-4d22-8ec3-333b3b0a4788/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/MG_6189.jpg)

![Casa Grande](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/26/e9265740-cf9f-4d22-8ec3-333b3b0a4788/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/MG_6180.jpg)

![casa grande](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/26/e9265740-cf9f-4d22-8ec3-333b3b0a4788/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/MG_6212.jpg)

![casa grande national monument](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e9/26/e9265740-cf9f-4d22-8ec3-333b3b0a4788/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/MG_6190.jpg)

**Casa Grande** is full of interesting stories of the hardy inventive people who built it. So if you find yourself driving through **Arizona**, take a little detour to the nation’s first archaeological preserve.