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destination SHARLOT HALL MUSEUM A Prescott Site Preserves a Century of History

THE CLASSIC, GRACIOUS, FIVE-COLOR Bashford House, on the corner of Gurley and McCormick streets, catches the eye first at Prescott's rambling Sharlot Hall Museum. Add in tall trees, a romantic-looking gazebo, frontier artifacts and an events calendar chock full of visiting poets, writers and artists, and this small regional museum scores high as a place that makes knowledge and discovery fun. True to the dreams of its founder, pioneer poet and historian Sharlot M. Hall, the museum marries preservation of the past with a vision for the future and hosts more than 100,000 visitors each year for “educational adventures in human and natural history.”Staff and volunteers generate a fascinating mix of historical exhibits and activities that make any age forget to yawn. For questions about cowboy lore, regional history, local genealogies, the Rough Riders of Arizona and much more, I knew I could find the answers here. Strolling the meandering walkway from building to building felt like visiting a quaint 1860s village. The gravel path rambles under sheltering trees, past more than 350 aromatic rosebushes in the Territorial Women's Memorial Rose Garden, and leads to buildings, gardens and outdoor exhibits where guests participate in late 19th-century Prescott life.

I naturally couldn't resist the Victorian “painted lady” house on the corner. From the Bashford House's storybook entrance, with its serpentine spandrils, to the resplendent stained-glass sunroom, I immediately sensed the bygone presence of elegant, bustled ladies perched on velvet chairs. In the main parlor, now a gift shop, little girls ooohed and ahhhed over lilliputian tea sets and old-fashioned sun bonnets, while I had a hard time choosing from shelves of historical books.

When not on horseback or on foot, Prescott's early residents traveled by stagecoach, wagon or bicycle, and examples of each are quartered next door in the Transportation Building — without the horses. The blue 1927 Star automobile that Hall herself drove also found a home here. A miniature pioneer's wagon offers kids a visual lesson on “packing” provisions for a homesteader's trek.

From the Bashford House, I walked past the ornate gazebo, which may be reserved for weddings, to the Fremont House, home of