(Continued from Previous Post)
A Little Silver Mining in Jerome
We headed along the 89A in the direction of the Black Hills of Yavapai County.
Our destination for the morning was the little town of Jerome, perched on the side of Cleopatra Hill (the one with the J).
Founded in 1876, the towns existence owes itself to rich ore (copper and gold) deposits.
The richest copper deposits of it's time! Sadly, this is probably the closest I'm getting to a billion dollars....about 140 years too late!
By the 1950s, there were less than 100 people living in the town after the ore deposits were exhausted. Jerome was almost relegated to the scrap heap. It was classified a ghost town.
Thankfully for us, the residents rallied together and have now changed the fabric of this one thriving mining town into a thriving tourist's delight. Jerome was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and it is a delightful place to come and spend some time in. As with everything else in this trip, we did not have enough time here.
We had always planned to come here in the morning. I had originally hoped to have breakfast here but we did have a bit of food leftover and it seemed a waste not to eat it. In any event, the shops in Jerome are not opened til after 10 am anyway.
There are a number of historic buildings and museums in Jerome; but DH and I passed them up in favour of some shopping. Dont get me wrong. I love the museums and everything but we had serious catch-up to do when it came to making a dent in our credit card.
We found a parking on Main Street and started to walk along.
There were relics of the past everywhere.
There were areas where buildings were a little worse for wear.
But by and large, the stores had that cutesy Wild West tourist feel to them.
This small town has all sorts of galleries and restaurants to look at and explore. It's not big; but there is enough to entertain.
Main Street goes up the hill and down the hill. Truth be known; it switches back on 3 levels.
We only stayed on the section where we parked the car. We had walked in and out of a number of shops; most of them selling souvenirs and trinkets. DH and I were specifically after silver jewellery on this leg of the trip. Id taken a look in the shops in Sedona and hadn't found anything that was quite what I were looking for. I was to strike silver in Jerome in the form of Nellie Bly.
The Nellie Bly store is a double fronted shop on Main Street. One side only stocks kaleidoscope. Every type of kaleidoscope imaginable ranging from $0.50 to $10,000 worth! DS was intrigued and was happy to stay in this side of the store. It truly was fascinating in this side of the store.
DH and I headed to the other side. Nellie Bly II carries a wide array of jewelry, pottery, and woodcrafts on the other half; and I had a great time looking at everything.
I had been looking for something that had turquoise stones but not in that traditional bright vivid blue colour. I already have a necklace like that and that colour is not one that I can easily wear. After I'd taken a decent look at everything, money did change hands and I ended up with this.
It's been made by a local artisan and I absolutely love the colour of the stones. It'll make a great addition to my wardrobe.
(Continued in Next Post)
I think he's gonna kill me if he ever finds out I overshared this tidbit of information. 
I'm finally caught up again!!!! 
