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 If you are a history enthusiast, the Sedona Heritage Museum is a great thing to do in Sedona. The primary museum building was the farm home of Walter and Ruth Jordan - early fruit farmers who irrigated their apple and peach orchards with the waters of nearby Oak Creek. They were among the 15 or so homesteaders residing in the area at the turn of the twentieth century, most making a living as apple and fruit farmers along the banks of Oak Creek. Reach back into the past in the 3300-square-foot apple packing shed where Walter Jordan's original 46-foot apple grading machine still sits among many other interesting exhibits, and visit the tractor shed where many of the tools and equipments used in the historic orchard business are preserved for the eyes of modern visitors.
The core of the Jordan House is the family's original one-room cabin, built in 1930 and now restored with original furnishings. Four more rooms were added in 1937, and the remainder of the present house was added in 1947.
The museum´s first room tells the stories of these Sedona pioneers, how they lived and what gear they used for their daily chores - and for survival in this beautiful yet remote and harsh country.
A second room commemorates the nearly 100 feature movies made in Sedona between the 1920s and modern times. Western movies reveled in the scenic backdrops of Sedona for three decades, starting with the movie version of Zane Grey´s “Call of the Canyon”. John Wayne was filmed here in “Angel and the bad man” (1945), James Stewart in “Broken Arrow” (1950), Burt Lancaster and Charles Bronson in “Apache” (1954) and Richard Widmark in “The Last Wagon” (1956).
Yet another room showcases the life of the old cowboys who lived and worked in the Sedona area in the early days of the twentieth century. Sneak a peek into an old-time laundry room, a school room, and a room dedicated to the Schnebly family, now considered the founders of Sedona. Theodore Carl Schnebly, an apple farmer from Missouri, was the town´s first postmaster in 1902 and named it after his wife, Sedona Miller Schnebly.
A well-stocked gift shop offers items hand-made by Sedona artists and crafts specialists. The collection of souvenirs includes silver jewelry in the museum's apple logo design, pens made from apple and peach wood grown on the museum grounds, as well as hand-painted and appliquéd vests, pottery and paintings. Don´t leave Sedona without taking a glimpse into its fascinating past and meeting the people that founded this town!
The Jordan property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Museum is open daily from 11:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m. Admission is $3.00; children under 12 enter free of charge. Special tours are available - please call 928.282.7038
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