Mancos State Park in Montezuma County lies in Colorado’s Four Corners region near Mesa Verde National Park, the West Mancos Trail, and the San Juan Skyway. Its surroundings reflect a long historical span, beginning with Ancestral Puebloans who lived in the Four Corners area from about AD 1 to 1300. Centuries later, the region remained under Spanish control for roughly 200 years, from the 17th to the 19th century. A more recent change came in 1948 with the commissioning of Jackson Gulch Dam by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The park entered the Colorado state park system in 1987.