Home Sweet Jerome: Death and Rebirth of Arizona's Richest Copper Mining City

Jerome was too stubborn to die. It became Arizona's most famous ghost town and a notorious and loveable hippie hideout. For thirty-two years, author Diane Sward Rapaport was immersed in the social and political life of this village of 450 people. “I became privy to the fortunes, misfortunes, dreams and ambitions of a quirky patchwork of rebels, heroes, scoundrels, and artists. I heard preposterous stories: the ten-dollar sale of Main Street in the 1950s; the ghost that lived in a gun; the theft of a large amount of money from the Catholic Church; and several 50-plant pot gardens growing in the mountains.” A drug bust in October 1985 made The New York Times with the headline “Ghost Town That Was Restored to Life is Now in Uproar Over Raid for Drugs.” Among those arrested were two council members and the chief of police. These stories are part of the mesmerizing history of a town that overcame overwhelming odds to become a celebrated art and history destination now visited by more than a million people each year. Read more