79/100... the san pedro house

When I read the Arizona Republic article back in October, 2011  that listed the 100 things they thought Arizonans should see or do, there were a couple that I had never heard of. When I made my personal list of 100 things to see in Arizona, I included those I had never heard of- and the San Pedro House (#79) near Sierra Vista was one of them. Surprisingly, exact directions to the house were nonexistent on the internet so I hoped to find a local in Sierra Vista who could give us directions. Our server (and owner) at The German Cafe (see previous post) knew exactly where it was and following her directions, we had no trouble finding it.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was a large huge gigantic enormous cottonwood tree.

There is quite a bit of discrepancy as to the age of the tree... but I think it's safe to say it's somewhere between 50 and 130 years old!

Having people next to the tree gives some perspective to its size!

Richard, Doug, Mike

Kristin, Ursi, Laurie

aka MR KLUD

We strolled through the grounds pausing to catch a glimpse of a bird or just admire the view.  Several plants were labeled so it was a little like walking through a small botanical garden. 

We saw quite a few bright blue butterflies flitting around. When they landed, I could see they had dark red spots on the underneath side of their wings.

The Friends of the San Pedro River are restoring the grassland to its original state with native grasses. Non-native grasses were introduced at the turn of the 20th century and choked out most of the native plants.

Finally, it was time to see the San Pedro House, so named because it is a stone's throw from the San Pedro River.

And there it is! By the way, this tree is NOT the enormous tree in the earlier photo; this one is smaller!

The house was built by a rancher in the 1930's out of rock and adobe- "fire-proof material" so it wasn't destroyed in several wildfires that swept the area.  The house is now the gift shop for the riparian preserve on the grounds. According to the retired birder volunteer in the gift shop, little is known about the history of the house.

We all left wondering why the Arizona Republic thought all Arizonans should see this house. It seems its claim to fame is that it is in the middle of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area- which was pretty but I've been to others that were at least as pretty and had many more birds. We all felt the area was pretty but definitely not worth a trip just to see the house.

Thumb Up or Down: Down

Miles Round Trip: see next post

Miles To Date: see next post

Percent of List Completed: 47%

Date of This Trip: April 28-29, 2012