the fourth corner: jerome

It's been a little quiet here on the blog this past week. My sister and brother-in-law were here visiting and we were a little busy...not keeping quiet. We explored some new things that we had not done before. One of which was taking a drive to Jerome. Interesting, eclectic and puzzling are a few words that come to mind to describe this town.

It is called "America's Most Vertical City" and "The largest Ghost Town in America". The name for the most vertical city is obvious as you wind your way into town. It is located at the top of Cleopatra Hill and was once known as the "wickedest town in the west". We can believe that.

Jerome was a copper mining camp once bringing in 3 million pounds of copper per month. At its peak, in the 1920's, the population was 15,000. Today it is just 450. From their web site they describe those 450 people as " artists, craft people, musicians, writers, hermits, bed & breakfast owners, museum caretakers, gift shop proprietors and fallen down building owners".

Four disastrous fires destroyed many large structures of the town in the early days. Most of it was re-built but there is evidence of some buildings that never were. The 30 degree incline of the mountain actually caused some buildings to slide down the slope. One of which was the jail that ended up on the opposite side of the road from where it originally stood. That fact made us wonder if it is really safe to live there.

There were stairs that were pretty steep taking you from one street level to the next. We only climbed them once.

In between buildings were alleyways that were pretty interesting. This one had a locked gate that said "enjoy our garden from here". The more you looked, the more you saw. There was a garden hose meandering it's way through all this stuff which gave you the impression that some watering is done, thus making us believe that it really was a "garden".

They say there is a "crib district" that was a street for the ladies of the night. I'm not sure if we actually saw that street or not, as it seemed that the whole town might have been in that "district".

It looks like at some point over the years they were ready to fight crime.

The streets were narrow and the buildings truly were built straight up. No room to even spread the electrical lines out a bit.

Some were a little more fancy than others.

This vintage bus either belongs to a musician, artist or the couple we saw earlier in the week at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Funny thing...we saw him this day too, walking around Jerome. I do have a picture of him that I should have put here. I'll show you it another time.

This may have been one of the burned out buildings, or something that just didn't survive over the years. But, add an old outhouse and a couple of toilets and people will throw their pennies down hoping to make a whole-in-one. Sure, it cost us a few cents!

Actually, the fencing around it made for a great photo.

We drove up to the area that is the ghost town. It is just up the hill from the main town. It was a cluster of old small shacks that we decided not to tour. We just stayed in the car and drove through. Mostly, there were hundreds of old cars, busses, trucks, tractors, and any other vehicle you can think of just sitting around. Ranging from really old to just old. We joked that they were all the vehicles of the people that parked and decided to get out of their cars and tour the ghost town. "You go in and you never get out". I'm glad we decided to keep driving!

Another old building along one of the main streets that didn't quite make it. Great for a photo though.

Even the manholes were worth a photo.

The whole town was interesting and we were fascinated by its buildings and general landscape. It is a place that we will visit again, perhaps taking in the museum and maybe even the ghost town tour.