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JEROME |
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The former mining town of JEROME , high above the Verde Valley on US-89A
about thirty miles south of Sedona, is conspicuous from quite a distance:
an enormous letter "J" is etched deep into the hillside above it, and a
large chunk of that hillside is missing altogether, having been blown
apart for opencast copper mining . This land abounds in mineral wealth -
thick veins of copper are interspersed with gold and silver, and an
endless supply of limestone is still extracted for cement - but serious
exploitation only started in 1876. The United Verde mine was partly
financed by New Yorker Eugene Jerome (a cousin of Winston Churchill's
mother, Jennie Jerome), who insisted that the new town bear his name.
Until the current tortuous road was built, the only way up to Jerome was
the precipitous rail line connecting the mine with the world's largest
copper smelter at Clarkdale.
From the early 1950s, when the mines closed down, until as recently as
the 1970s, Jerome was a ghost town in which it was possible to turn up
and move into an empty house. Many who did so are still here, making a
living from arts and crafts, and the town itself has made a dramatic
recovery. It's a bit of a tourist trap, but is nonetheless fascinating
to explore. The hillside is so steep that the stone houses (it was far
too expensive to haul timber up here) tend to have two stories at the
front and four or five at the back. Under the repeated concussion of
more than two hundred miles of tunnels being blasted into the
mountainside, the whole town used to slip downhill at the rate of five
inches per year, and the Sliding Jail on Hull Avenue came to rest 225ft
from where it was built.
The old-style Inn at Jerome , 309 N Main St (tel 928/634-5094 or
1-800/634-5094, ; $50-75/$75-100), has five themed B&B rooms , with and
without private bathrooms, as well as a bar , and operates a café , the
Jerome Grille . The English Kitchen (tel 928/634-2132) has been at 119
Jerome Ave since 1899. Under Chinese ownership, it was an opium den;
later the Wobblies held their meetings downstairs. Now it's open for
breakfast and lunch every day except Monday, and its terrace offers a
commanding view of the valley. Many of the shops stock only souvenirs,
but interesting crafts showrooms around town include the Knapp Gallery
on Lower Main Street and, next door, Made in Jerome Pottery.
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