Sedona Main Street Program nominates
the National Historic Preservation Month celebration in the City of
Sedona.
Each year the City of Sedona's Historic Preservation Commission (HPC)
plans an activity to celebrate National Historic Preservation Week.
Last year, National Trust expanded the celebration to honor History for
the entire month of May. In 2006, the Sedona HPC set an aggressive
schedule of events to ensure that our local celebration would also
continue the entire month. The scheduled events for each week of the
month and each event corresponded with one of the four sub-themes
identified by the National Trust. The 2006 theme was "Sustain America:
Vision, Economics, and Preservation" with sub-themes of "Preservation at
Home, "Historic Travel", Heritage Education", and "Diversity of
Preservation".
The first week's event was a walking tour of historic places in Uptown
Sedona. Many changes have come to Sedona's commercial district;
historic buildings, hidden relics and signs of historic uses can still
be found if you know what and where to look for them. This tour visited
those places and pointed out the remnants of days gone by. This is a
mature annual event and the HPC received a grant in 2005 to turn the
tour script into a self-guided tour brochure that is free. This event
was co-sponsored by the Sedona Main Street Program who helped with the
initial script and whose Director also guided one of the tours.
In the second week, Sedona's first store - the Hart Store now operated
as the Hummingbird House shop, was the site of an open house honoring
the owners and their work to preserve and sensitively restore this
designated Local Historic Landmark. During the open house, visitors met
the owners and engaged in conversation about the tangible and intrinsic
value of historic preservation, met HPC commissioners to learn more
about the historic preservation movement in Sedona, and shopped while
enjoying old-fashioned ginger snaps and lemonade. The open house was
co-sponsored by the store owners.
During the third week, the HPC wanted to bring attention to a lost
Sedona legend - that of the Meteorite Museum and Sedona resident Dr. H.H.
Nininger. Dr. Nininger was known as the father of the study of
meteorites and a prolific author on the subject who lived in Sedona from
the mid-1950s and established a museum in Uptown to house his private
collection, known to be the second largest in the world. A majority of
his collection now resides at ASU and the museum has been converted to
lodging rooms. The Sedona Gem & Mineral Club, of which Dr. Nininger was
a member, is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year and chose to
co-sponsor with the HPC a speaker event featuring Dr. Carleton Moore of
ASU and Dr. Nininger's daughter who still lives in Sedona. They spoke
of him as a scientist and as a person. During refreshments, one of Dr.
Nininger's meteorites was raffled to a lucky winner.
Memorial Day weekend, the fourth week, the HPC presented a bronze plaque
commemorating Sedona Landmark #12, designated in the fall of 2005. The
Cook Cedar Glade Cemetery was established in 1918 and is now owned by
the Sedona Historical Society (SHS), who co-sponsored this event. This
was the first time the HPC had designated a site or structure other than
a building. The SHS received ownership of the cemetery in early 2005
from the homesteader family who had operated it since the 1920s. This
joint event provided a venue for both organizations to pay tribute to
Sedona pioneers and the importance of preserving local history.
In total, over two hundred people participated in these events, most
knowing little about historic preservation activities in Sedona prior to
these interactions. In addition, another 18,000 visitor/citizens viewed
a HPC exhibit on the status on historic preservation in Sedona during
the month long display at Sedona Public Library.
The event’s intent of raising
awareness about local history and the importance of preserving the
physical manifestations of Sedona's past is bearing fruit already. Many
expressed interest in serving on the HP Commission when the next
openings are available and the interest expressed by a historic property
owner in how to get designation for their buildings.
The commission used a checklist to
prepare for this month long celebration including a local proclamation
for Historic Preservation.
