Sightseeing review: Cottonwood, Sedona, Jerome, AZ

We enjoyed our time in the Sedona/Cottonwood/Jerome, AZ area.  To be honest, though, we mostly relaxed at the campground doing a few needed chores.

A short distance from Cottonwood is Jerome — a city built on the side of a mountain with a marvelous view of the Verde Valley. Jerome was a mining town and across the years it produced over a billion dollars in copper, gold and silver.  There were two mines there.  The first was the United Verde Mine and the second was the Little Daisy mine which was owned by James Stewart Douglas. We stopped at Jerome State Historic Park and toured the museum in the Douglas Mansion which is built over the Little Daisy Mine.  The video of the city of Jerome and the mining industry there was fun and informational. Most of the rooms have city and mining memorabilia but the family library is still set up and the billiard room has a billiard table and a piano that belonged to the family.  From the park we continued into Jerome and found the streets are as narrow, steep, and twisting as advertised.  There is public parking making it easy for those who want to shop or eat.  Many of the original buildings are still in use although some are now private homes. We drove up and through the town to a scenic overlook.  It is an exceptional view.  From the overlook I looked up the mountain and spotted a trestle from the mining days.

We enjoyed looking around the area and know that there is much more that we didn’t see.  Really, though, that’s part of the fun of our touring lifestyle.  We plan on returning and will continue our exploration of this area then.