The National Park Service has selected Penny Wagner as superintendent of Montezuma Castle National Monument and Tuzigoot National Monument. She began her assignment on Nov. 17. The position reports to the Southern Arizona Office superintendent based in Phoenix.
“We are excited to welcome Penny Wagner, a distinguished leader, as the superintendent of Montezuma Castle/ Tuzigoot National Monuments,” said Southern Arizona Superintendent Patrick Putnam. “With her experience as a superintendent, public affairs specialist and interpreter, Penny is uniquely positioned to lead us into this new chapter. Having begun her career in Arizona, she has come full circle, returning home to her first park with a wealth of knowledge, passion and vision. We look forward to a bright future under her guidance.”
Wagner has worked for the National Park Service for more than 15 years, most recently as the superintendent at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Teller County, Colo. Her first work experience with the NPS began with a summer internship as a volunteer park ranger at Montezuma Well while she was in graduate school at Northern Arizona University.
She went on to work full-time at Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments after graduation, followed by Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve; Redwood national and state parks; and Olympic National Park. Wagner holds a master’s degree in anthropology from NAU and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Arizona State University.
“I am thrilled to return to the Verde Valley and honored to serve as the next superintendent at Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well and Tuzigoot national monuments,” Wagner said. “I look forward to working alongside the park staff, volunteers, tribes, partners and local communities to continue the legacy of dedicated stewardship of these special places.”
Wagner has moved back to Arizona with her husband, three kids and family dog. Her husband also works for the National Park Service in the Intermountain Regional Office as a recreation fee program analyst. Wagner succeeds Lloyd Masayumptewa, who recently accepted a role with the NPS Native American Affairs Office.
Montezuma Castle National Monument
On Dec. 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act, declaring four sites of historic and cultural significance as the first National Monuments.
Among these was Montezuma Castle, which Roosevelt identified as a place “of the greatest ethnological value and scientific interest.” Although very few original artifacts remained in the structure due to intensive looting of the site, Roosevelt’s decision ensured the continued protection of one of the best preserved prehistoric cliff dwellings in North America. Montezuma Castle National Monument quickly became a destination for America’s first car-bound tourists. In 1933, “Castle A,” a pueblo ruin with 45 to 50 rooms, was excavated, uncovering artifacts and greatly enhanced the understanding of the Sinagua people who inhabited the riparian oasis along Beaver Creek from 1100 to 1425 C.E.
Early visitors to the monument were allowed access to the structure by climbing a series of ladders up the side of the limestone cliffs. However, due to extensive damage, public access to the ruins was discontinued in 1951.
Approximately 350,000 people a year visit Montezuma Castle National Monument.
Tuzigoot National Monument
The Sinagua, who built and lived in the rooms of the Tuzigoot pueblo were part of a thriving community with trade connections stretching hundreds of miles.
″Tú Digiz” or “Tuzigoot″ is a Tonto Apache term meaning “crooked waters,” which refers to Pecks Lake, a cutoff meander of the Verde River.
The pueblo at Tuzigoot consists of over a hundred rooms, and was probably home to several hundred people for several hundred years, from 1125 to 1400 C.E. After the Sinagua left, the pueblo stood empty until the early 1930s, when it was excavated by archeologists and then turned into a national monument on July 25, 1939.
