Summerhaven, Arizona
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Summerhaven is a small village on Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona. Summerhaven sits at an elevation of approximately 8,200 feet. While Summerhaven is inhabited throughout the year by about 100 people, in the summer the population swells as residents from Tucson and Phoenix move in to their seasonal homes and cabins in the mountaintop village. Summerhaven is accessed by the Catalina Highway from Tucson.
Summerhaven is a popular tourist destination. Several small shops in Summerhaven attract visitors, including the Mount Lemmon Cafe, which sells fresh-fruit pies and The Cookie Cabin, which offers homemade cookies and pizzas. In the winter, residents from lower elevations travel to Summerhaven, when the Catalina Highway is open, to enjoy the snow.
The Summerhaven area was originally used by the U.S. Army at Fort Lowell in Tucson as a military camp in its campaign against the Apache Indians in the 1870s and 1880s.
In the summer of 2003, a wildfire (known as the Aspen Fire) ravaged Summerhaven, destroying more than 250 of the 700 homes in the community. Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano assessed the damage, and both federal and county officials surveyed the extensive loss. In the months that followed, Tucson residents organized "Lemmon Aid" to help rebuild Summerhaven. Summerhaven continues to recover from the wildfire.
Mount Lemmon Ski Valley right outside Summerhaven is the southernmost ski location in the continental United States.
[edit] External links
- Summerhaven, Arizona is at coordinates Coordinates:
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