This area is located in Archuleta County, Colorado, between Durango and Pagosa Springs, and is managed for archaeological protection, public interpretation, and education.

U.S. President Barack Obama created Chimney Rock National Monument by proclamation on September 21, 2012, under authority of the Antiquities Act.

[4] The Chimney Rock Archeological Area, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, consists of a central 960 acres.

The Ancestral Puebloan site, designated on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, was a community inhabited between Durango and Pagosa Springs about 1,000 years ago with about 200 rooms.

During certain key ceremonies, it functioned as a hotel for visiting notables, some of whom came from as far away as Chaco Canyon, in modern-day Northern New Mexico, 90 miles from Chimney Rock.

Rather than serving as a defensive post against invaders, it more likely performed crowd control, keeping undesirables out of the Great House Pueblo, and letting the elites through.

Excavations of the workrooms showed separate areas with grinding stones for corn and a sort of "man cave" where men would make arrowheads and tools.

Their modern-day descendants consider the site sacred with the spirits of their ancestors, and have asked the Forest Service to refrain from further excavation out of respect.

Utilizing the provisions of the Antiquities Act, U.S. president Barack Obama elevated the archeological site to the status of a national monument on September 21, 2012.

The guided tour comes in two parts; a quarter mile paved pathway that winds through unexcavated sites and the Great Kiva and singular pithouse, and a third mile, more strenuous dirt and rock path that runs past the pit house complex, Rooms A-E, the Guardhouse, and Great House Pueblo.

Since it became a National Monument, Chimney Rock's volunteers and employees have been calling for a grant to build a small museum on site to display information and artifacts from excavations.

Its care, protection, and preservation are shared by the Pagosa Ranger District, United States Forest Service and the public, who contribute through tour fees, donations, and purchase of items from the Chimney Rock Visitor's Center.