Visiting Cottonwood’s Historic Old Town

Dead Horse Ranch State Park is just outside the town of Cottonwood, Arizona. The Old Town section is lined with shops and restaurants and the Iron Horse Inn. We ate a delicious meal at Crema Craft Kitchen and did some shopping. There are several places for public parking, and the one behind the Belfry Brewery had lots of space for Usain.

Tuzigoot National Monument

We visited Tuzigoot National Monument on the day we left Dead Horse Ranch State Park. As mentioned in a previous post, it had been pointed out by a fellow hiker, and it is very close to the park. This archeological dig took place in the 1930’s as a way to put people to work and used the CCC program. At that time archeologists were most interested in restoring walls to make it look new rather than preserving as it was left, which would now, a century later, be best practice.

The hilltop location provided a way to see other nearby settlements and provided living space that did not take away the precious, flatter farmland below. The most obvious question to us was how each family would get into their home when many of the family rooms were on the interior without access except through the roof. We found a helpful volunteer that explained that roof access was indeed what they used with ladders to come and go. The ladders on the perimeter could all be pulled inside during the night to secure the village.