Cottonwood

History Copper made Cottonwood a real town. In 1917 Clemenceau, a smelter community tied to James Douglas's United Verde Extension mine in Jerome, was founded nearby; it is now part of Cottonwood. When the Clemenceau smelter closed in 1936 the area lost jobs, and when the Jerome mines ended in 1953 the valley's economy had to find something else. Cottonwood incorporated in 1960. Today the older commercial blocks along Main Street form a historic district.

What to See Old Town is the part to walk: a few blocks of shops, tasting rooms and restaurants along Main Street. The city promotes itself as a center for the Verde Valley's wine trade, and the tasting rooms in Old Town are the easiest way to sample it.

Just north of Old Town is Tuzigoot National Monument, a hilltop pueblo of about 110 rooms that looks over the Verde River and Tavasci Marsh. Its small museum, built in 1936, displays pottery and other objects found on the site. Across the river, Dead Horse Ranch State Park has lagoons stocked for fishing, a riverside greenway, camping, cabins and a shared-use trail system of more than 20 miles (several of its trails were closed for hazardous conditions in November 2026). The 15-mile Lime Kiln Trail starts from the park and runs to Red Rock State Park at Sedona along part of an old wagon road.

Clarkdale, which grew up around the copper smelter for Jerome's mines, adjoins Cottonwood on the northwest. It is where the Verde Canyon Railroad excursion train departs for its 40-mile round trip along the river.

On the River The Verde is one of the things that sets this town apart from others in the region. The Verde River Greenway runs for about 2 miles through nesting habitat inside the state park, and the National Park Service records over 245 species of birds in the corridor around Tavasci Marsh, which it describes as the largest freshwater marsh in Arizona not connected to the Colorado River. Arizona Game and Fish stocks trout in the river and the lagoons through the cooler months. Bald eagles, the NPS adds, nest on the cliffs bordering the river and are often seen in winter and spring, and river otters, reintroduced in the 1980s, turn up occasionally.

Getting There Cottonwood is on State Route 89A and State Route 260. From Interstate 17, take exit 287 and follow Route 260 west for the most direct approach. By road it's about 107 miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor, 64 miles from Flagstaff and about 43 miles from Prescott over Mingus Mountain through Jerome. There's no commercial airport in town.

Practical Notes The heat matters. Bring water to Tuzigoot, where the trails have little shade, and start any long trail in Dead Horse Ranch early during summer. Frost is common on winter mornings, but real snow is rare: the 1991 to 2020 median annual snowfall is only a trace, so winter is generally good walking weather. Day-use hours at the state park change with the season, so check the park's page if you plan to arrive early or stay late.