Acoma Sky City, New Mexico

An ancient native pueblo atop tall mesa, Acoma is one of the longest continuously inhabited communities in the country, established over a thousand years ago. Acoma, today, is a most unusual-looking place, with thousand-year old buildings that have been updated with modern improvements, such as doors from Home Depot. It is a community of a few dozen year around residents, mostly families who sell pottery to the tourists that come in a continuous stream via shuttle bus from the visitor center at the base of the mesa. The couple of hundred dwellings in town are second homes, and are occupied by the families that own them during special events and ceremonies. A mission church, built in 1640, stands on one side of the mesa-top, and the community is ringed with outhouses, as there is no plumbing in town.