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Nevada » Southern Region » Overton » Lost City Museum

Lost City Museum

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1934–1935, many additions and alterations. 721 S. Moapa Valley Blvd.

The Lost City Museum, originally known as the Boulder Dam Park Museum, consists of an adobe brick building and two reconstructtions—a pit house and a seven-room Puebloan house—all erected by the National Park Service (NPS) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1934–1935. The museum occupies a hilltop one-quarter mile south of Overton. The CCC erected the building as part of the effort to recover and store artifacts excavated from Pueblo Grande de Nevada (known as the Lost City), Nevada's most significant Anasazi site, discovered in 1924. Excavations began the following year. Work continued into the 1930s until Lake Mead flooded the site. The two reconstructions are 1930s interpretations of Anasazi sites and culture. At this time, reconstructing prehistoric and historic sites was a common and accepted means of interpreting the past. The National Park Service attempted to recreate prehistoric structures faithfully rather than leave the ruins as they were found.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Julie Nicoletta
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Data

What's Nearby

Museum
Pit House
Pueblo
Overton Gymnasium
House (Experimental Farmhouse)

Citation

Julie Nicoletta, "Lost City Museum", [Moapa Valley, Nevada], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/NV-01-SO64.

Print Source

Buildings of Nevada, Julie Nicoletta. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, 246-246.

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