Historic Cave Creek walking tour
A free, self-guided route of 10 historic stops on Cave Creek Road, from the Cave Creek Museum to Harold's Cave Creek Corral. Follow the road west to east through the town core. Stops 1–6 sit close together near Basin Road and Skyline Drive. Stops 7–10 are farther east toward the bend, so walk on or hop in the car.
Stories adapted from the Cave Creek Museum's Local Landmarks program. You can pick up a Landmarks Passport at the museum or the Cave Creek Visitor Bureau.
Photo: Marine 69-71 / CC BY-SA 4.01Cave Creek Museum
6140 E Skyline Dr, Cave Creek, AZ 85331
Start where the town's story is kept. The museum grew out of the Cave Creek Historical Society, founded by volunteers in 1968 on land donated by Frank and Hazel Wright. Outside you'll find the Golden Reef Stamp Mill, Arizona's only operating ten-stamp mill, plus the town's first church and the last known original tubercular cabin in Arizona.
Seasonal: open October through May. Check the museum's site for current hours.
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Big Earl's Greasy Eats
6135 E Cave Creek Rd, Cave Creek, AZ 85331
This metal service station was a Standard Oil station in Phoenix and was moved to Cave Creek in the 1950s. It's on the National Register of Historic Places, and the museum calls it the only remaining Phoenix-area example of the classic Standard Oil station design. Since 2002 it has been a retro diner.
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Black Mountain Feed
6198 E Cave Creek Rd, Cave Creek, AZ 85331
This hometown feed store at Basin Road sits in what was once a home of Frank Wright, known as “Mr. Cave Creek.” He came here in the late 1920s as a health seeker, and the local American Legion post is named for him.
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Carpenter's Trading Post
6217 E Cave Creek Rd, Cave Creek, AZ 85331
E.B. Carpenter opened this trading post in 1951. He was a rockhound, lapidary and silversmith who turned local stones into necklaces, rings and buckles. The shop closed when he died in 1969, but the sturdy little building is still part of the town core.
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Photo: Marine 69-71 / CC BY-SA 4.05Frontier Town
6245 E Cave Creek Rd, Cave Creek, AZ 85331
Frontier Town is a re-created Old West main street with a boardwalk, a gallows and Boot Hill cemetery. It was here before the town was incorporated and has served visitors for more than 50 years. Today its storefronts hold small independent shops.
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El Encanto
6248 E Cave Creek Rd, Cave Creek, AZ 85331
Built in 1952 as the offices of the Black Mountain Gas Company, the property has a pond that began as a natural aquifer. Bill Nelson bought it in 1989 and created a Mission-style restaurant around the water. The Nelson family still runs it.
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The Horny Toad
6738 E Cave Creek Rd, Cave Creek, AZ 85331
This spot started out as a Cave Creek home in 1932. The first restaurant here was called Dirty Will's Moustache Cup. Today the “Toad” is known for its fried chicken and its greeting: “Sorry, we're open!”
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Indian Village & The Hideaway
6746 E Cave Creek Rd, Cave Creek, AZ 85331
The rambling wooden building (about 1944) that holds Indian Village started as a laundromat for dude-ranch cowboys. Indian Village opened in 1972 and serves tacos and frybread. Next door, The Hideaway is thought to have been built in the 1930s to house Bartlett Dam workers. It is now a famous biker stop, especially during Bike Week in April.
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Buffalo Chip Saloon
6823 E Cave Creek Rd, Cave Creek, AZ 85331
The Buffalo Chip opened in 1951 as a bait shop, then became a bar called the Crystal Palace and later The Maverick. Green Bay Packers great Max McGee bought it and gave it today's name. Later owners added a kitchen, a backyard and a bull-riding arena.
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Photo: Marine 69-71 / CC BY-SA 4.010Harold's Cave Creek Corral
6895 E Cave Creek Rd, Cave Creek, AZ 85331
It began as a corral under the mesquite trees where workers building the dams east of town could get a drink. There has been a bar here since the 1930s, and it has been Harold's since about 1950. It's a fitting place to end the walk.
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