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About Sedona

Sedona is located at the lower end of Arizona's spectacular Oak Creek Canyon, renowned for its stunning red buttes and monoliths, as well as its surrounding lush forests. Sedona is located in both Coconino and Yavapai Counties and is completely surrounded by the Coconino National Forest.
For more than 11,000 years, humans have lived in the Sedona region. The first inhabitants were Indians of Asian ancestry. They hunted, gathered and cultivated in the area until Europeans and their descendants entered the area 500 years ago. The first Europeans to discover the region in 1583 were members of a Spanish expedition in search of legendary rich Indian mines. A few expeditions may have passed through the Sedona region, but it is uncertain exactly which trails were traveled.
Sedona began as a small, remote ranching and farming settlement in 1876 when the first permanent settler, John James Thompson, settled on property in Oak Creek Canyon, claiming it under the 1862 Homesteaders Act. By 1902, 20 families lived in the settlement and a postal station was petitioned for. Sedona was named by Ellsworth Schnebly for his sister-in-law, Sedona M. Schnebly. Mr and Mrs. Theodore Carlton Schnebly arrived from Gorin, Missouri, in October 1901. They arrived in Arizona with their household good on a freight car via the narrow gauge railroad to Jerome.
At least 76 feature films and countless video productions and commercials have been shot either in full or in part in the Greater Sedona area. For three decades, Westerns were the most popular movies in America. From "shoot'em-ups" to romance, dramas, and the singing cowboy films, they attract audiences around the world.
Now, millions of people worldwide recognize the name Sedona for its natural beauty and history. Sedona receives more visitors each year than any other Arizona tourist destination, except the Grand Canyon. Sedona has become a center for traditional and contemporary arts and offers a variety of galleries, boutiques and specialty shops. It is an upscale retirement and tourism community, because it is the jumping off place for tours of the Red Rocks region. Sedona has quickly become one of the most popular destinations on the planet. Tourism has exploded as news of the area's many virtues has spread around the world. With so much to offer it's no surprise.

With opportunities ranging from resort style accomodations to backcountry adventures to New Age based retreat experiences- and everything in between- Sedona has something to offer everyone.

Additional History

Sedona History
The human aspect of Sedona history goes back as far as ten thousand years ago, when archaeologists believe hunter-gatherers first roamed the area, looking for sustenance in the red rock canyons. Of course the actual town of Sedona Arizona is a much more recent phenomenon, and... more info

Sedona History: The First European Pioneers
There was a time, more than a century ago, when Oak Creek Canyon and all the areas around Sedona Arizona were uncharted, untamed wilderness, and those European pioneers who first ventured out here had battles and struggles ahead of them... more info

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