Sedona

History

The first European-American settler, John J. Thompson, moved to Oak Creek Canyon in 1876, an area well known for its peach and apple orchards. The early settlers were farmers and ranchers. In 1902, when the Sedona post office was established, there were 55 residents. In the mid-1950s, the first telephone directory listed 155 names. Some parts of the Sedona area were not electrified until the 1960s. The area, then unincorporated, had no local government and was bisected by two counties. Growth increased after a resident discovered water. That meant area residents no longer had to transport water, and could directly build infrastructure. Sedona began to develop as a tourist destination, vacation-home and retirement center in the 1950s. Most of the development seen today was constructed in the 1980s and 1990s. As of 2007, there are no large tracts of undeveloped land remaining. Important early settlers included the Steele family, originally of Scotland. In 1956, construction of the Chapel of the Holy Cross was completed. The chapel rises out of a redrock cliff. The most prominent feature of the chapel is the cross. Later a chapel was added. Inside the chapel there is a window and a cross with benches and pews. Sedona played host to more than sixty Hollywood productions from the first years of movies into the 1970s. Stretching as far back as 1923, Sedona's pink rocks were a fixture in major Hollywood productionsincluding films such as Angel and the Badman, Desert Fury, Blood on the Moon, Johnny Guitar, The Last Wagon, 3:10 to Yuma and Broken Arrow. However, the surroundings typically were identified to audiences as the terrain of Texas, California, Nevada, and even Canada–US border territory. The town lent its name to the 2011 film Sedona, which is set in the…

Geography

Sedona is located in the interior chaparral, semi-desert grassland, Great Basin conifer woodland biomes of northern Arizona. Sedona has mild winters and warm summers. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of of which , or 0.22%, is water. Sedona’s interior chaparral has many shrubs and small tree species of Quercus turbinella and Rhus ovata and a large population of Quercus palmeri. The Great Basin woodland has many small to medium trees of Pinus monophylla Var. fallax, Juniperus arizonica, Juniperus deppeana, Juniperus osteosperma, and Juniperus monosperma and a large population of Cupressus glabra. At higher elevations in Oak Creek Canyon Juniperus virginiana, Pinus edulis and other pines occur. The pink rocks of Sedona are formed by a unique layer of rock known as the Schnebly Hill Formation. The Schnebly Hill Formation is a thick layer of pink colored sandstone found only in the Sedona vicinity. The sandstone, a member of the Supai Group, was deposited during the Permian Period. Notable landforms in or around Sedona include the Seven Sacred Pools, Bell Rock, Capitol Butte, Cathedral Rock, Courthouse Butte, Devil's Kitchen Sinkhole, House Mountain, Two Nuns, and Wilson Mountain which is the highest. Sedona has a cold semi-arid climate (BSk) and is a high desert. In January, the average high temperature is with a low of . In July, the average high temperature is with a low of . Annual precipitation is just over .

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  14,584
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  11,138
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  10,616
• Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma woodhouseii (S.F.Baird, 1858) · Aves
  9,400
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  9,005
• White-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia leucophrys (J.R.Forster, 1772) · Aves
  8,767
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  8,663
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,542

Largest nearby schools

• Sedona Red Rock Junior/Senior High School
  High · SEDONA · 482 students · 19.3:1 ratio
• West Sedona Elementary School
  Elementary · SEDONA · 256 students · 12.8:1 ratio
• Sedona Charter School
  Elementary · SEDONA · 163 students
• Red Rock Academy
  Other · SEDONA · 10 students
• VACTE - Yavapai College Sedona Center
  High · SEDONA · 1 students
• VACTE - Sedona-Oak Creek Joint Unified School District
  High · SEDONA
• ASDB - Distance Itinerant Service Program Region 1
  Other · HOLBROOK

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2026-04-07
  5 km W of LeChee, Arizona
• M 2.5 — 2025-04-15
  14 km N of Clarkdale, Arizona
• M 3 — 2025-02-19
  0 km SW of Christopher Creek, Arizona
• M 2.6 — 2024-10-15
  20 km NE of Parks, Arizona
• M 2.6 — 2023-08-14
  9 km WSW of Williams, Arizona
• M 3.8 — 2023-07-23
  2 km E of Chino Valley, Arizona