Chrysocolla Inn B&B

There’s more than a century of history at the Chrysocolla Inn B&B, but the building that now houses the bed and breakfast nearly became history itself. When the Rooney family bought it in 2000, it was dilapidated and being used to train firefighters on how to work in abandoned buildings. “We got this crazy idea that we wanted to renovate something,” Holly Rooney says.

Renovate they did. It was a 10-year process, mostly on their own, that turned the structure from a demolition candidate into a haven for those in search of relaxation and solitude. “I remember one guest saying, ‘This is the only place I can go out and hike and not see anyone,’ ” Rooney says.

The building, which sits on the same slanted street as Globe’s old courthouse and jail, dates to the late 1800s. It served as a boardinghouse for men working in the Globe area’s copper mines, and each of its small rooms had a cot and a corner sink. Two miners, one on the day shift and one on the night shift, would share each room. And according to local lore and stories the Rooneys have heard, Mary Katherine Horony, better known as “Big Nose Kate,” ran the boardinghouse for a time while she and Doc Holliday were split up.

The top floor was added in the 1920s, but the building had gone unused for years by the time the Rooneys began renovating. They uncovered brick fireplaces that had been plastered over and created six rooms that, like the inn itself, are named for minerals found in the area. The Turquoise (pictured), the largest of the six, features a queen bed and incorporates one of the fireplaces, while the Amethyst offers two full beds and a claw-foot tub. And throughout the B&B, many furnishings and fixtures were sourced from local antiques shops.

While the rooms are quaint and comfortable, visitors often end up elsewhere on the property, such as the wraparound porch, the backyard fish pond or the multiple sitting areas on the main floor. “Guests often just come in, sit down and pick up a book,” says Libby Rooney, Holly’s cousin who manages the inn. She previously ran a B&B in Israel, and guests rave about her Mediterranean-inspired breakfasts, which include salad, muffins and a main course such as a vegetable frittata or quiche.

Numerous restaurants and shops in Globe are within walking distance, and Theodore Roosevelt Lake is just a 30-minute drive away. But the lightly trafficked hiking trails in the nearby Tonto National Forest remain a draw for solitude-seekers. And so, surely, does the fact that they’ll no longer have to share a room with someone from the night shift.