Day Tripping: Fairbank,
Arizona
by Daryl F. Mallett
Just an hour and a half away, on the other side of the Santa Rita
Mountains from Green Valley and Sahuarita lie a number of great places to
visit. One of them is the Fairbank, Arizona area.
Now if you’ve never heard of Fairbank, Arizona, don’t feel bad.
I’ve been here since 1993 and this was the first I’d ever heard of it, too.
Fairbank, Arizona is a ghost town now administered by the Bureau of
Land Management. But there is more than just a ghost town. There’s also a
cemetery and the remains of the old mill within two miles. Just up the road is
a Spanish fortress dating back to the U.S. Revolutionary War days.
Conveniently located by both is the Tombstone Territories RV Park (http://www.tombstoneterritories.com), with
affordable rates, central to hiking routes, complete with a heated pool, hot
tub and exercise facility, WiFi, dog park, shuffleboard, darts, billiards, and
planned weekly events and tours throughout the area.
Also nearby are the ruins of Santa Ana de Quiburi an old Spanish
Visita and a Sobiapuri Indian Village. Father Eusebio Kino made contact with
the Sobiapuri here in the late 1690s. Chief Cobo, who became friends with Kino,
had an adobe house built for the missionary in 1697. The Sobiapuri moved away
from the area, so Father Kino did not propose the building of an actual mission
until 1709. The location is restricted and the general public is not allowed to
go there, but academics and researchers can make special arrangements to see
it.
(Originally published in different form in THE KGVY COMMUNITY QUARTERLY, Winter 2014.)
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