Jerome State Historic Park

James S. Douglas built this house in 1916 on the hill just above his Little Daisy Mine, and he built it to impress. It served as a hotel for mining officials and investors as well as a family home, with a wine cellar, billiard room, marble shower, steam heat and, ahead of its time, a central vacuum system. He was proudest of the walls, which are adobe bricks made on the site. Douglas earned the nickname "Rawhide" in Mexico, reportedly from using rawhide to reduce roller wear on a cable car incline.

His timing was good. He bought into the Little Daisy in 1912, and his crews hit an extremely rich vein just in time for the soaring copper prices of World War I. The mine shut down in 1938, and Jerome's mining ended altogether in 1953. In 1962 his sons Lewis, who had served as US ambassador to Britain, and James conveyed the mansion and 2.43 acres to the state. It opened as a park on October 16, 1965, the fifth in Arizona's system, on the day of the town's Spook Night celebration, with adult admission at 25 cents.

The museum tells the story of the town, its mines and the family through photographs, artifacts and minerals, with a video presentation and a 3-D model showing the town above its underground workings. The model is the thing to see, since it makes sense of a hillside that otherwise looks like rubble. The Douglas library and an upstairs bathroom are furnished as period rooms. Mining equipment and interpretive panels fill the outdoor area, and the carriage house holds a family buggy and "Smokey Joe", a 1929 Ford Model A truck from Jerome.

Don't leave without walking the grounds. The picnic area has a panoramic view of the Verde Valley, and from the mansion you can see the abandoned mine workings, with Oak Creek Canyon, Sycamore Canyon and the San Francisco Peaks in the distance. You also get the clearest view of how precariously the town sits on its hill.

Programs vary but have included Sunday geology presentations, talks on town history and Saturday walking tours led by volunteers. Check the events page for the current schedule. Douglas also built the concrete Little Daisy Hotel as a dormitory for his miners, and it still stands nearby.