“Explain to me why we left our winter coats back in the room?”
My wife gives me a stern look. I don’t know. I don’t have a good answer. All week this November in Phoenix the temperatures had climbed up into the high 60s and low 70s. All I needed as I explored around Tonto National Forest and Tucson was a long sleeve shirt and that just to keep the sun off my skin.
“There better be pancakes along the way.”
I don’t want to give the impression that my wife is a difficult travel partner. Just the opposite, being away from the stress of a women’s leadership conference for hospital finance executives was great break. It’s just that cold and hunger was making her a bit “hangry” there in the passenger seat.
We rolled out of the Royal Palms in our rented Jeep Renegade early to get good jump on the day. Ahead was a two hour drive from Phoenix to Jerome to explore the unique near ghost town of an old mining city near Sedona.
Lucky for me I spotted an iHOP restaurant and steered the car off the highway and into the outskirts of Phoenix at the very edge of civilization.
Freezing in the Desert
Travel from here only went up in elevation and down in temperature. By the time we reached our destination of
“Do these three layers of shirts make me look fat?”
Some questions should never be answered. Up the windy road to what was once a large copper mine back in the turn of the century boasting a population of over 10,000 people making it the third largest town in Arizona and the first with a JC Penney. It also had dozens of saloons as well as houses of ill repute. There was even something called “Husband’s Alley” were married men could enter the brothel’s in a despite fashion.
From Boom Town to Bust
Fires, landslides and the economy eventually destroyed the value of the town and the population dwindled. In the 60s the state offered the abandoned buildings to anyone willing to pay taxes on them. Hippies and artists moved in and now the town is basically a tourist destination complete with restaurants, galleries, gift shops and a whole lot of history as seen in the Jerome State Historic Park mining exhibits and the historic buildings around town.
Jerome, Arizona is not the kind of “ghost town” I saw in Widsoe, Utah or even at the Eldorado Mine in Searchlight, Nevada. Shop for fine art prints, coffee mugs, throw pillows, blankets, cards and more here – https://edward-fielding.pixels.com/art/jerome
Jerome is a ghost town full of real flesh and blood inhabited living in what appears to be buildings and homes ready to crumble and slide down the steep hills, not unlike the old jail which skidded from one street to the next back in the days when they were still blasting into the rock in search of copper.
For the more rustic ghost town experience, one has to venture a little bit out of town to the Gold King Mine and Ghost Town.
Things To Do In Jerome
The top things to do in Jerome include shopping, eating and learning about the history of this interesting place.
We started off at the Audrey Headframe Park. You hang a right on the way into town following the signs for the mining museum, pass the old Mexican church made from old dynamite boxes (now a private vacation home) and stop for a look down the shaft at the Audrey Headframe Park.
You can actually stand on a piece of plexi-glass covering the 1900 foot deep shaft!
Next travel just a tiny bit further on the road to the old Douglas Mansion which now houses the Jerome State Historic Park and mining museum. The owner of the mine built this impressive structure in 1916, right next door to the mining operations. I guess he
Next up is the town of Jerome itself. Follow the winding road into town and grab the first parking spot you find. Or drive just out of town and use the big parking lot which is just a short walk from town or
Then explore the town and all of its artsy little shops and museums. For
By this time it was already getting late so we had to hightail it to the Gold King Mine just on the outskirts of town. We had just enough time to quickly visit the collection of old junk before the sun went down.
A Day Trip From Sedona or Phoenix
Jerome is
Fine Art Photographs from Jerome, Arizona
To view all the photographs from the trip to Jerome – click here!