Going On The Road with Monte & Rose

February 19, 2013

Desert Sky, Apache Junction, AZ

Florence and Casa Grande National Park

Most of the time I do research on a place to explore but sometimes we kind of let the day unfold and see where the road takes us. We set out for a short hike on Silly Mountain but as we approached the turn off, I suggested we take a ride to Florence.

I liked the cloud patterns on US 60 East as we drove to Florence

A couple of weeks ago we passed through Florence on our way to Tucson.

We had taken a quick ride through the town, took a few pictures and continued on our way. But it looked interesting and I wanted to take another look.

We started off at McFarland State Historic Park that serves as the Florence Visitor Center.

As soon as we entered we met Jeanne who gave us a history of the building we were in and suggested we take the Florence walking tour.

Levi Ruggles designed and built this adobe building in 1878.

1882 an addition was added to include a Sheriff's office, jail, jury room and lodging rooms for visiting lawmen. The jail had two cells that could hold up to 12 prisoners.

This room served as the courtroom for all of Pinal County. It was also used for town meetings.

It has functioned as a hospital, a health center, home for the elderly and a museum.

One part of the museum houses memorabilia from the prisioner of war camp that was the largest camp ever constructed on American soil.

The camp was initiated as an official internment camp for European prisoners of WWII. The camp housed first Italian, then German prisoners captured in North Africa and Europe.

By December, 1945, Camp Florence held a total of 13,000 prisoners.

It seems kind of strange to me to build a camp on American soil that required transporting prisoners from Europe.

Lamp made of Saguro and Cholla.

I try to remember to sign the guest book at visitor centers because it helps with funding.

While we walked through the different rooms in the building, Jeanne put together some brochures of places to visit in the area.

One of the brochures Jeanne gave us was for Casa Grande National Monument just 9 miles away. We wanted to do the walking tour of Florence that she suggested but, as it was almost 3pm and the National Park closes at 5, we decided to go there first and return to Florence afterward.

Casa Grande is Spanish for big house and it refers to the largest structure at the park.

Monte has the America the Beautiful pass so we did not have to pay the admission fee.

Stamping my passport

We walked around the museum and watched a short video on the history of the ruins and the native people who once inhabited them.

Excavated in 1906

These canals were dug out with long sticks! I can't imagine how many man hours it took.

We were told there was a 10 to 15 minute Ranger led tour of the ruins immediately after the film.

But Ranger Cher gave a lecture and tour that was closer to 40 minutes.

Most literature refers to the peoples who built and inhabited this village, Hohokam.

But the descendants of the Hohokam object to the term because it means "all dried up" meaning they do not exist anymore. They prefer the term, Ancestral People of the Sonoran Desert.

No one knows for sure why the village was abandoned.

Missionaries discovered the ruins in 1694.

Ranger Cher pointing out some graffiti.

Two centuries of visitors and souvenir hunters further damaged the site. Scientists pressed for its legal protection and in 1892 the Casa Grande became the nation's first archeological reserve.

A Prehistoric Observatory?

The walls of the "large house" face the four cardianl points of the compass. A circular hole in the upper west wall aligns with the setting sun at the summer solstice. Other openings align with the sun and moon at specific times.

Archeologists believe these pits may have been ballcourts for games.

One of our goals when we began this journey was to visit National Parks and Monuments. We feel so lucky to live in a country that has actively preserved its proud history. As I walked around the ruins, I thought about what it must have been like to live in a village. How hard but simple life must have been back then.

We returned to Florence and took the 1 ½ mile walking tour.

We only stayed long enough at each place to take a quick picture because the sun was starting to set and it was getting quite chilly. The photos below are just a few of the 30 stops we took pictures of on the tour.

Conrad Brunenkant's City Bakery. (1889) This two story red brick building was constructed for a Dutch-born baker and grocer.

Jesus Martinez House (1875) Martinez was a farmer from New Mexico who built this adobe house. It features a Sonoran flat dirt roof and central patio. The house was converted into the first County Hospital with six beds. It was later used as a meat market, store and residences.

Second Catholic Church of the Assumption (1912)

Chapel of the Gila (1870)

The chapel was the first Catholic Church built in Central Arizona.

Jean Baptiste Michea Residence and Lone Star Store (1878)

The single story section of this building was built by Jean Baptiste Michea, a former artilleryman with Maximilian's occupation army in Mexico. The single story housed the Kone Star Store. Jean Baptiste's widow built the two story addition in 1888.