The Native Americans
The area in and around Sedona has long been inhabited by Native Americans as they considered the area sacred ground. Ancient peoples such as the Anasazi, Hohokam, and Sinaqua have left ruins.
Contemporary tribes include the Dine (the People - White folks call them Navajo), Hopi ( People of Peace), Haalapai ( People of Tall Pines), Havasupai ( People of the blue-green water), Yavapai, and Apache. The Yavapai and Apache have several subgroups within their respective nations. The Yavapai-Wipukepa (People from the Foot of the Red Rock) were and are the Native people of the Yavapai Nation originally living in the area.
In 1876, 1500 Yavapai and Apache were forcibly marched 180 southeast to the San Carlos Indian Reservation. This march took place in midwinter, and several hundred people died. The survivors were interned for 25 years. In 1900 a few of these people came back to the Sedona area.
 |
| Montezuma's Castle - believed to be a Sinagua dwelling. |
The Settlers
It is believed that the first European to see the area around Sedona was Antonio de Espejo around 1583! Many Spaniards were looking for silver and gold in the area, which they did not find.
The first permanent settler was J.J. Thompson, who moved into the area in 1876 followed by a few more hardy settlers. They settled the Oak Creek Canyon area. Part of Thompson's homestead is now home to a Dairy Queen! We stopped there.
One of the early settlers was T.C. Schnebly and his wife, Sedona. For years, T.C. petitioned to get a post office station in the area. Original names for the postal station were Schnebly Station, Red Rock Crossing, and Oak Creek Station. However, the U.S. Government thought all of these names were too long to fit on a postal cancellation stamp. It was T.C.'s brother, Dorsey Schnebly that suggested his sister-in-law, Sedona, as a name for the postal station. In 1902, the name Sedona was granted as a station name, and a town was born.
 |
| Theodore and Sedona |
Parts of the town of Sedona did not have electricity until the 1960s!
The Artists
Like various art colonies around the country, and simlar to Tubac in southern Arizona, artists came for the beauty of the area and stayed. In 1950, artist Max Ernst moved to Sedona. Since then, many artists have moved to the area, and the town is filled with many upscale art galleries. The artwork here is quite expensive.
 |
| Max and Dorothea Ernst with his scupture "Capricorn". |
The New Age Folk
Sedona is most famous for the New Age movement, which at its peak in 1987, had thousands of devotees coming to Sedona for the Harmonic Convergence, when all the planets aligned. (I actually recall this day, not because I was in Sedona, but because I was hired for a teaching job, and my sister and I spotted a jeep for sale - my brother-in-law wanted a jeep.) I will go into more detail in another post about the New Age Movement in Sedona.
 |
| The sign says it all. |
No comments:
Post a Comment