Native American History Comes Alive in Sedona, Arizona

A trip to Red Rock country showcases the stories of Indigenous people

Sedona, Arizona, is known as Red Rock country because of its red-hued sandstone. But it also pays tribute to Native American history.

Johnathan Pozniak/Gallery Stock

Robin L. Flanigan,

AARP

Published November 08, 2024

More than 3 million tourists flock annually to my small hometown of Sedona, Arizona. Many of them are hikers wanting to scale rock formations made of iron-rich sandstone that gives the place its world-famous red hue, or spiritual seekers hoping for a mystical experience at an energy vortex.

Also known as Red Rock country, Sedona is a playground for foodies and spa lovers as well. But there’s another side to Sedona that doesn’t get as much attention — one that pays homage to a rich and vibrant history of Native American cultures dating back 1,000 years.

In honor of National Native American Heritage Month, celebrated every November, Sedona is a great place to get up-close-and-personal with that history — one shared by the Sinagua, Hopi, Navajo, Tonto Apaches, and Yavapai over thousands of years. Making visitor interest especially poignant for the Indigenous population here is that of the estimated nearly 4.5 million people living in the United States identifying as American Indian/Alaska Native alone, only 0.1 percent live in Sedona, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Bonus: Several sites require walking on trails. That’s good news for older adults who can benefit from keeping active. According to a 2023 study in the international journal GeroScience, walking decreases the risk or severity of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, cognitive impairment and dementia, and more — while improving longevity, mental well-being and sleep.

So why not log your steps amid the beauty and background in and around this desert oasis? Here are seven places to get an introduction to the history and craftsmanship of the area’s Native American people.

Historical sites

Petroglyphs and pictographs adorn the walls of Honanki Heritage Site.

Courtesy Brady Smith

Honanki Heritage Site

I took a guided tour to Honanki Heritage Site in Coconino National Forest. Once there, we followed a roughly half-mile loop trail to reach the massive cliff dwelling in Red Rock country — the former mud-and-stone home of the Southern Sinagua people, believed to be ancestors of the Hopi tribe. Along with the other tourists, I marveled at petroglyphs (scratched or carved images) and pictographs (symbols created by pigment rubbed into the rock) that tell stories of Native American culture, religious beliefs, and daily life from around 1150 to 1350.

“It was very entertaining, and the trail wasn’t bad at all,” says 62-year-old Carla Brooks, vacationing from Olive Branch, Mississippi, who also was on the tour. “I fell back a couple times, but the guide stopped enough times to [allow me to] regroup with everybody.”

A Red Rock Pass ($5 for a daily pass; $15 for a weekly pass at www.recreation.gov or select locations around Sedona) is required. If you hire a guide from one of Sedona’s several tour companies, you won’t need a high-clearance vehicle (highly recommended) to maneuver incredibly bumpy, unpaved roads, and you’ll hear interesting facts, anecdotes and myths about the city and its scenery along the way.

Guides won’t, however, have answers as to why the Sinagua disappeared from the archaeological record around 1400. That remains a mystery.

Palatki Heritage Site’s preserved cliff dwellings were built around 1150 by the Southern Sinagua people.

Courtesy Danika Thiele

Palatki Heritage Site

Honanki’s sister site, Palatki Heritage Site, showcases exceptionally preserved cliff dwellings built around 1150 by the Southern Sinagua people, who cooked meals, raised families, and made tools here.

Choose from one of two trails to admire the dwellings. One takes you straight to the source, but be prepared to climb 60 uneven, arduous steps. The other leads to a view of the dwellings. A third trail to alcoves housing rock art, including ancient pictographs and petroglyphs.

On-site hosts and volunteers offer interpretive information, a visitor center is located close to the parking lot in a 1920s ranch house, and there’s a gift shop run by the Arizona Natural History Association.

The site closes in inclement weather. Reservations for free tours (includes a $1 per ticket nonrefundable fee) and a Red Rock Pass ($5 for a daily pass or $15 for a weekly pass at www.recreation.gov or at select locations around Sedona) are required. Road conditions are rough; a high-clearance vehicle is recommended.

Crane Petroglyph Heritage Site is the largest known petroglyph site in Central Arizona’s Verde Valley.

Courtesy Deborah Lee Soltesz

Crane Petroglyph Heritage Site

This is the largest known petroglyph site in Central Arizona’s Verde Valley and one of the best preserved, about 17 miles from Sedona. On the banks of Beaver Creek find 1,032 ancient petroglyphs — people, animals, geometric shapes, and more — carved by the Southern Sinagua people. In recent years, avocational archaeologist and Crane docent Ken Zoll conducted what’s called an archaeoastronomical survey (the study of astronomical practices, celestial lore, mythologies, religions and world-views of all ancient cultures) of the site and wrote a book examining the role of the petroglyphs as a solar calendar.

Access the rock art site via a short, easy hike from the visitor center. (The trail is wheelchair accessible.) A chimney and garage from the 1930s and 1940s are part of the visitor center and all that remains of an old cow ranch from the 19th century.

Crane also offers live docents and a gift shop.

Tuzigoot National Monument

An old pueblo village occupied between 1000 and 1400, Tuzigoot National Monument is yet another site built by the Sinagua people.

This one — once home to some 250 people at any given time — was a thriving community with trade connections stretching hundreds of miles and is about 23 miles southwest of Sedona.

A 1/3-mile loop trail goes around and through the Tuzigoot pueblo, which consisted of 110 rooms, including second- and third-story quarters.

Be sure to admire views of the Verde River and Tavasci Marsh along the way. A separate half-mile trail to an overlook of the marsh is wheelchair accessible; the pueblo trail is accessible to wheelchairs and strollers, though some sections may be a challenge.

A museum within the visitor center houses artifacts found on site and throughout the Verde Valley pertaining to the Sinagua people.

Open year-round (except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s days), the site offers walking trails, restrooms, and picnic tables.

Museum

Sedona Heritage Museum is working with local Native American historians to incorporate more inclusive exhibits in the museum.

Courtesy Robin L. Flanigan

Sedona Heritage Museum

The story of Sedona is rooted in Yavapai and Tonto Apache tribes being relocated by the U.S. Army in 1875 from the Verde Valley to a distant reservation more than 200 miles away. The relocation was ordered by President Ulysses S. Grant. Similar to the Trail of Tears, the Exodus Trail, as this was called, had ruinous effects.

The Sedona Heritage Museum is working with local Native American historians to incorporate more inclusive exhibits to provide a fuller representation of the area’s history.

Visit on a day Nate Meyers, the museum’s executive director, is on the clock and be treated to fascinating history lessons.

“We try to express the idea that the story of Native American peoples is not a story of the past,” says Meyers. “They are very much a part of this community — they’re real people who still to this day call this place home.”

The museum highlights Sedona’s history to the present and is housed in a former homestead. While there, explore rooms packed with personal belongings once owned by many of the city’s other notables, including Sedona namesake Sedona Schnebly (notice the chipped keys on the piano she taught her grandchildren to play).

Shopping

The turquoise jewelry and other wares made mostly by Native Americans living on the Navajo Reservation are available at the Native American Craft Market.

Courtesy Robin L. Flanigan

Native American Craft Market

Shortly after entering Oak Creek Canyon on the famed switchbacks toward Flagstaff, pull off the road to shop at the Native American Craft Market (Address: 4551 AZ-89A). Peruse thousands of pieces of turquoise jewelry and other wares made mostly by Native Americans living on the Navajo Reservation, which stretches across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

About 15 vendors — some of them the artists — sell bracelets made with juniper berries, ceramic vases accented with horsehair, steel knives with handles made from deer horns and buffalo bones, kachina dolls, dreamcatchers, and more.

Garland’s

Family owned since 1976, Garland’s Navajo Rugs sells rugs handwoven only by Navajo weavers. Most of the weavers live on the 16-million-acre Navajo Reservation, the largest American Indian Reservation in the country.

Navajo rugs — a signature of the tribe — are made with wool colored with vegetal or plant-based dyes, and made on vertical looms using methods repeated over the past 300 years.

Garland’s has a couple of locations, and sells jewelry, pottery, and other wares.

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Robin L. Flanigan is a contributing writer who covers mental health, education and human interest stories for several national publications. She is a former reporter for several daily newspapers, and her work has appeared in People, USA Today and Education Week. She is the author of the children’s book M Is for Mindful.