Xochitepec

History

People have lived in this part of Morelos for a very long time: excavations at Zazacatla show occupation between 800 and 500 BC, and Tlahuica settlements in the area date from the 14th century. An indigenous town stood on the Cerro de las Flores, the flowered hill that gives Xochitepec its name.

Spanish evangelization arrived in the 16th century. The Franciscans began the church of San Juan Evangelista as a small chapel that grew into a convent; its dome was finished in 1881. Churches were also built in nearby Atlacholoaya and Alpuyeca. The royal road from Mexico City to Acapulco passed through the region, and Xochitepec became a town that served its traffic. Sugar haciendas such as Santa Catarina in Chiconcuac and Real del Puente shaped the countryside, sometimes in conflict with villagers over land. In 1847 a strong earthquake opened a sulfur spring at San Ramón, Chiconcuac, which is a water park today.

During the Mexican Revolution the town was caught in the fighting, and in 1913 federal troops burned Xochitepec along with other Morelos towns. Afterward the Real del Puente hacienda stopped making sugar, husked rice for a time, and later became a hotel. Sugarcane and rice are still grown here. Xochitepec was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2023.