Self-Guided Walking Tour of FORT VERDE STATE HISTORIC PARK
Fort Verde State Historic Park at 125 E. Hollamon in downtown Camp Verde, Arizona, is an architectural heritage site.The park is open every day except Christmas from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are occasional historic reenactments, especially for the Fourth of July and October’s Fort Verde Days. During the winter holidays, the park’s historic homes feature Victorian-era trimmings. For more information, call 928-567-3275. There is a modest admission fee.
Let me tell you a secret.I’m not really a medical doctor even though I once lived in the surgeon’s quarters at Camp Verde, now known as Fort Verde State Historic Park. I did have a science degree and enjoyed studying the birds in the area. Although I learned how to treat the flu and a few other common illnesses, I relied heavily on the hospital matron to care for sick soldiers and their families.
You can see where I lived if you take the self-guided walking tour of the Fort’s Officers’ Row. The houses are furnished in the style of the 1870s.
As you enter the surgeon’s quarters, the hospital room is on the right.A small apothecary is off to the side, just right of the desk; and in the middle are some surgical instruments used by other doctors—not me. Notice the operating table, the cane-woven wheel chair, the animal skulls and stuffed birds. Across the way is the parlor where I entertained guests.My wife was an excellent pianist.
Next door is the bachelor officers’ quarters where unmarried soldiers lived.As you can see from the bedrooms, life was pretty bare bones here—just what was needed to get by: cots, rifles, trunks, clocks, table and chairs and a mirror for shaving.
Finally, we come to the commanding officer’s quarters.This home was the center of social life at the fort, and sumptuously furnished with rugs, screens, Victorian furniture, even a china cabinet in the dining room. In the kitchen we stored water barrels that we filled from a spring on Beaver Creek. Off the back porch, we grew our own vegetables.
To learn more about frontier life, visit the visitor center and small museum across the street; in my day it was the Fort’s administration building. Exhibits cover the military, civilian settlers, miners and American Indian scouts—with photographs, artifacts and historic accounts.
Geronimo said that he would never have been caught if Apache scouts hadn’t taught General Crook’s soldiers Indian-fighting ways. What do you think?
