Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of the Cherry area: wooded hills with dirt roads and clearings for homes strung along a creek

Gold mining town · Railroad and road town

Cherry

A mining camp and stage stop on Cherry Creek, in the Black Hills between Dewey and Camp Verde. The mines are long closed, but people still live here, and some of the old buildings are homes.

34°35′17″N 112°02′31″W · ≈5,010 ft

Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).

Private homes

Cherry is still lived in. The Forest Service called it "the community of Cherry" in October 2026, and an undated listing says some of the old buildings are residences. We found nothing set up for visitors. Look from the road and respect private property.

Overview

Mines on Cherry Creek

Cherry sits at about 5,000 feet in the Black Hills of Yavapai County, between Dewey and Camp Verde. It got its start in the early 1860s and grew to a town of about 100. When the mines played out in 1879, it lived on as a stage stop.

The bonanza at nearby Jerome made the district attractive again, and promoters laid out the town that got a post office in March 1884. It lasted until March 1943. Six mills once served more than 40 mines around Cherry. Wikipedia says about 400 people lived and worked here in its prime, and names the Federal, Bunker, Sunnybrook, Logan and Gold Bullion among the mines. The old USGS sheets show how thick they were: the 1944 map names eight mines around the town.

Cherry never emptied completely. An undated listing says some old buildings are now residences and summer homes dot the countryside, and Wikipedia, citing a 1980 ghost-town guide, calls it a small retirement and vacation-home community. In October 2026 the Forest Service referred to "the community of Cherry" when it announced a fuels project to the west. Some of the old mines around the town are on the Prescott National Forest, and the Forest Service has been cleaning them up since 2021.

Timeline

Camp, stage stop and post office town

Cherry on the 1944 USGS Mingus Mountain sheet, with the Gold Bullion, Golden Idol, Black Hawk and Sunnybrook mines around it
Cherry on the 1944 USGS Mingus Mountain sheet, with the Gold Bullion, Golden Idol, Black Hawk and Sunnybrook mines around it · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
  1. Cherry gets its start and grows to a town of about 100.
  2. The mines play out, and Cherry carries on as a stage stop.
  3. The Jerome bonanza makes the district attractive again, and promoters lay out the town that gets the post office.
  4. The Cherry post office opens.
  5. Six mills once served more than 40 mines around Cherry. Wikipedia says about 400 people lived and worked here.
  6. The USGS Jerome sheet shows Cherry on Cherry Creek, with mine symbols scattered on the slopes around it.
  7. The post office closes.
  8. The USGS Mingus Mountain sheet names eight mines around the town: the Gold Bullion, Cherry King, Golden Idol, Black Hawk, Gold Eagle, Wombacher, Sunnybrook and Logan.
  9. The Forest Service starts cleaning up six abandoned mines in the Cherry Creek Mining District. The first phase covers the Bunker, Golden Idol and Black Hawk.
  10. The second phase begins, on the Logan, Gold Eagle and Uncle Sam mines.
  11. The Forest Service announces cleanup work on an abandoned mine near Cherry, to start the week of April 27.
  12. A Forest Service fuels project begins west of "the community of Cherry", planned to run through March 2028.

The mines

Old workings, new cleanup

KNAU describes the district's abandoned mines as silver, gold and copper mines. The 1944 USGS sheet names the Gold Bullion Mine northwest of town, the Cherry King and Golden Idol to the north, the Black Hawk and Gold Eagle to the northeast, the Wombacher to the east, the Sunnybrook to the southwest and the Logan to the south. The 1981 sheet adds the Federal, Bunker, Monarch and Sitting Bull mines to the north and the Gold Coin to the south-southwest.

Some of those workings are on the Prescott National Forest, and the Forest Service has been cleaning them up. KNAU reported in January 2023 that the work began in December 2021 on six mines in the Cherry Creek Mining District. The first phase covered the Bunker, Golden Idol and Black Hawk, and the second, which had just begun, would focus on the Logan, Gold Eagle and Uncle Sam. In April 2026 the Forest Service announced cleanup work on an abandoned mine near Cherry, starting the week of April 27.

Old mine openings are dangerous. Stay out of shafts and adits, and keep clear of any active cleanup site.

What's left

Homes in the hills

An undated listing says some of Cherry's old buildings are now residences. They're private homes, so this is a place to drive through slowly rather than explore. The 1944 and 1973 USGS sheets mark a cemetery on the west side of town, just north of the road, and Wikipedia, citing a 1980 guidebook, says it holds several graves from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

  • Some old buildings, now used as homes
  • Cemetery (on the 1944 and 1973 USGS sheets)
  • Mine sites in the hills
  • Cherry Creek
USGS topographic map of Cherry with Cherry Creek, Kay Seep, Home Spring and green boundary lines
USGS The National Map, topo. Green boundary lines wrap around the townsite; Cherry Creek runs below it, with Kay Seep and Home Spring nearby.
Aerial view of Cherry: houses and dirt drives scattered through wooded hills along a creek
Aerial imagery, same area. Houses and dirt drives spread through the trees, with the creek's green line crossing below them.

The historic maps below run from 1887 to 1981. On the 1887 sheet, Cherry sits near the east edge of the map in the Black Hills. The 1905 sheet shows the town on Cherry Creek with mines around it, the 1973 sheet shows the cemetery and a scatter of buildings along the road, and the 1981 sheet names the surrounding mines and Powell Springs Campground to the southwest.

Historic maps

Cherry on USGS maps, 1887–1981

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Cherry, 1887
Prescott sheet, 1887, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Prescott is the nearest city, about 53 minutes away. From Prescott the route joins AZ 169 near Dewey; from Phoenix it leaves I-17 onto AZ 169 at its other end. Both then follow West Cherry Creek Road into the Black Hills.

USGS topographic map between Prescott and Cherry with the route along AZ 69, AZ 169 and Cherry Creek Road drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Prescott32.2 miabout 53 min
  1. From downtown Prescott, take Goodwin Street and Cortez Street to Gurley Street and head east.1.3 mi
  2. Continue east on AZ 69.15.0 mi
  3. Turn left onto AZ 169 (Dewey–Copper Canyon Highway).9.7 mi
  4. Turn left onto West Cherry Creek Road and follow it to Cherry.6.2 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • OpenStreetMap (October 2026) tags West Cherry Creek Road as a mix of paved and gravel sections. An undated listing rates the road 2WD and paved.
  • Some of the old buildings are private homes. Don't block driveways or walk onto private land.
  • The Forest Service is running a fuels reduction project on about 1,700 acres west of Cherry from October 14, 2026, through March 2028.

Photos

Have photos of Cherry?

We haven’t added more photographs of Cherry yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

Visitor reports

Been to Cherry?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Cherry

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Arizona index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Cherry": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains, post office dates, population), the early town of about 100, the six mills and 40-plus mines, the 1879 decline and stage stop, the Jerome bonanza and the summer homes.
  2. Wikipedia, "Cherry, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: coordinates and elevation (GNIS 27538), post office dates, the named mines, the population of about 400, the cemetery and the retirement and vacation-home community, citing Philip Varney, Arizona's Best Ghost Towns (1980). The article files Cherry as a ghost town.
  3. USDA Forest Service, "Prescott National Forest, State Partners Launch Log Springs Fuels Work", October 9, 2026: "west of the community of Cherry," about 1,700 acres, from October 14 through March 2028.
  4. USDA Forest Service, "Prescott National Forest begins mine cleanup near Cherry", posted April 16, 2026: work on an abandoned mine near Cherry, on the Verde Ranger District, to begin the week of April 27, 2026.
  5. KNAU, "Forest Service resumes cleanup of abandoned mines near Prescott", January 13, 2023: the six silver, gold and copper mines in the Cherry Creek Mining District and the two cleanup phases.
  6. USDA Forest Service, Basic Ownership map layer, queried October 20, 2026: the GNIS point is "Non-FS" land inside the Prescott National Forest.
  7. Road surfaces: OpenStreetMap, October 2026. Elevation: GNIS via Wikipedia. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Status checked against the sources above on October 20, 2026.

Photo and map credits

Record6 of 9
  • Coordinates (GNIS)
  • Post office dates
  • Community status (Forest Service, 2026)
  • Mines named on USGS maps
  • Historic maps, 1887–1981
  • Mine cleanup, 2021–2026
  • Photos
  • Which old buildings survive
  • Cemetery burials
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.