Town Tour Guide

Roosevelt's Rough Riders," she says. "When he was killed in Cuban combat, Prescott's citizens persuaded the Legislature to appropriate $10,000 for a monument to Buckey and the other Arizona Rough Riders. That memorial, sculpted by Solon Hannibal Borglum, was dedicated on July 3, 1907 and restored and rededicated in 1998." Achilles La Guardia, who served at nearby Fort Whipple as bandmaster, is the subject of another of Melissa's stories. His son, Fiorello, played cornet in the La Guardia family band, and became mayor of New York City. Fiorello called Prescott his hometown-"a playground measured not in city blocks, but in miles and miles of beautiful vistas."

Melissa's tours follow several formats. She often joins tour bus groups, guiding them along the Victorian house-lined streets of east Prescott, and down Whiskey Row. But she is best known for her walking tours around the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza. The heart of Prescott's downtown, the four streets surrounding the plaza hold more than enough history to fill 90-minute tours. To supplement her tours, Melissa offers two books, Arizona Territorial Sampler and Prescott: A Pictorial History, and a video, "Melissa Ruffner's Prescott." Visitors to the Sharlot Hall Museum often ask about "the lady in the big hat with the crowd around her." We explain that she ranks as Prescott's best historical storyteller, suggesting they might enjoy one of her future tours.

And no one has ever returned to complain. AH EDITOR'S NOTE: For more information about Melissa Ruffner's Prescott Historical Tours, call (928) 445-4567.