Jerome

Jerome was built on Cleopatra Hill above one of the richest copper deposits in Arizona, on ground so steep that buildings sit on terraces cut into a thirty-degree slope. Underground blasting and the removal of ore destabilised the hill, and buildings slid: the old jail moved something like a hundred metres downhill from where it was built and now sits across the road from its original site, tilted. At its peak the town had around fifteen thousand people; when Phelps Dodge closed the mine in 1953 it fell to about fifty, and the survivors declared it a ghost town and started charging admission to it. Artists arrived in the 1960s and 70s. Douglas Mansion is now a state park with mining exhibits.

What you actually see

• A town on a thirty-degree slope - terraced into the hillside.
• The sliding jail - about a hundred metres from where it was built.
• A population that fell from 15,000 to about 50 - after the 1953 closure.
• Douglas Mansion state park - mining exhibits above the town.

When to go

March to November. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Parking is very limited and streets are narrow and steep. Ghost tourism dominates the marketing. The road up from either side is a series of switchbacks. Weekends are crowded from Sedona.

Nearby

Sedona is north-east; Prescott is south-west over the pass.