This unique facility was designed as an artificially closed complete ecology, and was the setting for research on human interaction with natural systems. The site is now owned and maintained by the University of Arizona, which conducts tours for the public.
The Hohokam Pima National Monument is an ancient Hohokam village within the Gila River Indian Community, near present-day Sacaton, Arizona. The monument features the archaeological site Snaketown 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. The area was further protected by declaring it a national monument in 1972, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The Gila River War Relocation Center was an American concentration camp in Arizona, one of several built by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) during the Second World War for the incarceration of Japanese Americans from the West Coast of the United States. It was located within the Gila River Indian Reservation (over their objections) near the town of Sacaton, about 30 mi (48.3 km) southeast of Phoenix. With a peak population of 13,348, it became the fourth-largest city in the state, operating from May 1942 to November 16, 1945.
Pinal or Pinal City is a ghost town in Pinal County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was populated from the 1870s into the 1890s, in what was then the Arizona Territory.
Superstition Mountain (Yavapai: Wi:kchsawa, O'odham: Gakoḍk) is a prominent mountain and regional landmark located in the Phoenix metropolitan area of Arizona, immediately east of Apache Junction and north of Gold Canyon. It anchors the west end of the Superstition Mountains (within the federally designated Superstition Wilderness Area) and is a popular outdoor recreation destination, home to numerous trails for hiking and horseback riding. The legend of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine centers around the mountain.
Weavers Needle is a 1,000-foot-high (300 m) column of rock that forms a distinctive peak visible for many miles around. Located in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix, Arizona, Weavers Needle was created when a thick layer of tuff (fused volcanic ash)—a volcanic plug—was heavily eroded, creating the spire as an erosional remnant with a summit elevation of 4,555 feet (1,388 m). It is set in a desert landscape of cactus and mesquite bush, with large Saguaro cacti particularly prominent.
St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery is a Greek Orthodox monastery in the Sonoran Desert outside Florence, Arizona, United States. It was established in 1995 in the name of Saint Anthony the Great and is the largest Orthodox monastic complex in the Western Hemisphere.
Oak Flat (Western Apache: Chíchʼil Bił Dagoteel, Navajo: Chéchʼil Bił Dahoteel) is a mesa in Pinal County about 40 miles (64 km) east of Phoenix in the Tonto National Forest. A high desert setting at 3,900 feet (1,200 m) elevation, the land is sacred to Native Americans from the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and many other Arizona tribes. This federally-managed area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and features a U.S.
Ray is a ghost town in Pinal County, Arizona, United States; it is mostly known for the large copper mine there. It was named after the nearby Ray mine, which was begun by the Ray Copper Company in 1882, after the sister of one of the miners, whose name was Bullinger. The town of Kearny was founded by the Kennecott Mining Company in 1958 as a planned community to accommodate the populations of Ray, Barcelona and Sonora, which were about to be enveloped by Kennecott's copper mine.
Camp Grant was the name used from 1866 to 1872 for the United States military post at the confluence of the San Pedro River and Aravaipa Creek in the Arizona Territory. It is near the site of the Camp Grant massacre. The post was first constructed in 1860, and between 1860 and 1873, the post was abandoned or destroyed and then rebuilt multiple times, and it was known by a variety of names, starting with Fort Breckinridge in 1860 before becoming Camp Grant in 1866.
The Tortolita Mountains are a modest mountain range northwest of Tucson, Arizona, USA, at the northern boundaries of Oro Valley and Marana, two suburbs of Tucson. Peak elevation is 4,696 feet (1,431 m). Much of the mountain range is protected within the Tortolita Mountain Park, established in 1986 by Pima County, which plans to expand its territory.
Peppersauce Cave is a limestone cave found in the Santa Catalina Mountains approximately ten miles south of Oracle, Arizona. Peppersauce is frequented by about 23,000 visitors every year and contains approximately one mile of mapped passages.
Sasco is a ghost town located in Pinal County, Arizona, west of Red Rock. Sasco, which is an acronym for the Southern Arizona Smelter Company, was a company town with a large smelter that served several mines. Once an impressive and little-known ghost town, today Sasco is a common sporting destination with shotgun shells, airsoft bb's, paintball splatter, and litter in the area.
The Arizona Renaissance Festival is a Renaissance-themed amusement park and Renaissance fair located in Gold Canyon, Arizona, east of the Phoenix metro area in Pinal County. First run in 1989, the Arizona Renaissance Festival runs from mid-winter to early spring every year due to the mild winter and spring weather. The fictional village of Fairhaven is open Saturdays, Sundays, and President's Day Monday.
The Casa Grande Photogrammetric Test Range is a test range established in the mid-1960s to test the dynamic performance of aerial survey cameras. The range consisted of 272 concrete calibration markers embedded into the Earth's surface in and around Casa Grande, Arizona, United States. The markers are commonly (and erroneously) believed to have been used to aid camera calibration for the US Central Intelligence Agency's Corona spy satellite program; in fact, they were used as references for aerial surveys through photogrammetry.
A former ghost town established in 1893, which has been completely renovated and turned into a tourist attraction, complete with staged gunfights. Onsite is a small historic museum ($1), a narrow gauge railroad, livery stables, gold-panning exhibit, and reconstructed bordello.
Managed by the Tonto National Forest Service, this rugged wilderness area encompasses the Superstition Mountain range and offers a number of outstanding hiking trails, many also suitable for equestrians. Dispersed camping is permitted.
This museum covers an area of 12.5 acres with a variety of exhibits illustrating the history of the area, from pre-Columbian times until the early 20th century. Onsite are reproductions of an old west town, as well as the reconstructed Elvis Memorial Chapel and the Audie Murphy Barn, which were moved here following a fire at their original locations.
Downtown Casa Grande has a number of buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A helpful map of the most interesting buildings can be downloaded here.
Long-standing roadside attraction where you can walk up and feed various critters such as ostriches, lorikeet, deer, tortoises and stingrays. There is also shopping for ostrich products. Monster truck tours of the ranch are held on weekends and holidays.
County is resolved from each attraction's coordinates against U.S. Census geography rather than entered by hand, so a place near a county line is filed where it actually sits.
