When you live in an area that has limited building materials, you use those materials that are around. That is exactly what the Pueblo Indians did when they built Agate House out of petrified wood blocks. Located on top of a small hill within the Rainbow Forest at Petrified Forest National Park, the original house was eight rooms with the petrified wood blocks laid in a clay mortar. Agate House was partially reconstructed in the 1930s.
To get to Agate House, you can take the Agate House Trail which has its trail head across the street from the Rainbow Forest Museum parking lot and down about 100 feet on the main road. The trail is approximately 1 mile long. You used to be able to drive closer, but the road has been closed and is now sprouting weeds and other vegetation. There is a shade shelter about half way along Agate House Trail, but otherwise there isn’t much sun protection.
While there are only a few rooms still left at Agate House, it’s an amazing structure to walk around:
It’s especially fun to look at the amazing colors in the petrified wood that was used to build Agate House: