Casa Verde Regional Museum

The Casa Verde Regional Museum opened in 2022. In the museum, you’ll find a glimpse into the pre-Hispanic and present-day history of Tuxtepec and the wider Chinantla region. Thanks to a generous donation of archaeological objects from local residents, these pieces can now be displayed to the public.

The museum takes its name from a green-painted “Casa de Raya” that once stood on this exact spot. After a day working the plantain fields, laborers would come to the Casa Verde to collect their pay. The company behind it was American-owned, which is what made the Casa Verde’s architecture so distinctive at the time. Due to its advanced state of deterioration, the historic building itself couldn’t be saved — the Regional Museum that bears its name was built in its place.

Besides the archaeological pieces and huipiles on display, you’ll see a representation of what would have been a large gold disc from the tributary province of Tochtepec (the Aztec-era province whose main center was Tuxtepec). This disc was gifted to Hernán Cortés in an attempt to convince him to leave the coast of Veracruz and abandon his advance toward Tenochtitlan. Cortés would later go on to explore this same land in search of more gold.

The museum frequently hosts cultural events, inviting communities from the Chinantla to share their crafts and cuisine — check the museum’s social media to find out when the next one is happening.

There’s also a museum shop where you can pick up souvenirs: photographs of old Tuxtepec, books on history and archaeology, and even natural vanilla, grown wild in the Chinantla. In the future, the museum plans to expand, displaying more objects and giving further context on the history of Tuxtepec and the Chinantla.