Prescott Valley is known for its mild year-round climate and the fact that unlike other areas in the Southwest, it has four distinct seasons. But that’s not what makes this city so special. For one, it is near the 1.25 million acre Prescott National Forest and its varied assortment of wildlife including porcupines, bald eagles, deer, coyotes, and even Gila monsters. Fortunately, these critters seldom make their way into Prescott Valley proper.
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What you will also find in Prescott Valley is a wide array of housing options, plenty of stores and restaurants. All of this comes wrapped in the beauty of the desert with its magical sunsets and landscapes.
It took a rough-around-the-edges mountain man to make this area popular with later arrivals. And before he came to the area around Prescott Valley, he had made a name for himself cutting paths through the dangerous regions of the wild west.
Wild Man of the Mountains Brings Civilization to the Prescott Valley Area
While Native Americans once lived in what is today the Prescott Valley area, it wasn’t until a grizzled old “Mountain Man” and scout, Joseph Walker arrived that others began to settle the area.
Like Kit Carson, Walker was a famous western scout who led immigrant parties and military expeditions to California. On one of his journeys, he and his party had to abandon all of their wagons and many of their supplies. Amazingly, they ended up walking over the treacherous Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west coast.
Later, an American cavalry soldier who met Walker commented, after looking him up and down, that he was a wild looking creature who had abandoned civilization and preferred a life of wandering the deserts of the Southwest.
In 1862, this “wild man” led a party of 34 gold hunters to Arizona, stopping close to current day Prescott Valley. There they discovered gold on the Lynx River. This strike eventually produced over $138 million of gold.
Around the same time, the U.S. Army used the nearby Glassford Hill as an unusual communications platform. Long before telephones and walkie-talkies, soldiers would often communicate using a mirror’s reflection of the sun. This even has a name: heliographics.
A morse-code savvy soldier would stand on a hill and use the sun’s reflection to “type out” messages, so to speak. These cavalrymen were notifying other army units about the whereabouts of Apache warriors. This system worked wonders unless, of course, it was a cloudy day.
Anyway twenty years later, ranchers settled the area. There was a big market for beef among hungry miners and especially soldiers at the nearby Fort Whipple.
So, today we have a crusty old mountain man, Joe Walker, to thank for planting the seeds of what is today, Prescott Valley.
What to do in Prescott Valley
There are a ton of things to do in and around Prescott Valley, particularly if you like your recreation outdoors. The area’s fine weather makes hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, fishing, or just sitting down and taking in the amazing scenery a popular pastime. The city has 27 parks, athletics fields, and even a skateboard park, not to mention the nearby state parks and forests. And the greatest park of all – the Grand Canyon – is just 2-hours away.
While no one would call Prescott Valley a shopper’s paradise, it instead has an array of stores common to small town America, such as Cracker Barrel and Ace Hardware. These places, in keeping with their small town heritage, are one of the few remaining establishments where you can get country fried steak or buy a screwdriver without having to navigate the maze of a big box store.
However, if big box stores and fast food chains are to your liking, these are close by. It’s less than 10 miles to Prescott. There’s even a 14-screen multiplex movie theater not far away. But if you are looking for expensive Gucci loafers, head towards Phoenix.
If live entertainment is your preference, you can go to the Prescott Valley Events Center. It seats over 6,000 people for concerts, rodeos, boxing matches or monster truck events. The place rocks too. ZZ Top and other top-billed bands have played at this venue as well.
Real Estate in Prescott Valley
The real estate market in Prescott Valley is smoking. Prices for single family homes have increased over 30% in just one year, and the few condos on the market have risen by an amazing 53% over the same period.
Median prices are slightly lower than neighboring Prescott, but are creeping up above the national median price of homes. Condos are a bit better priced, but there aren’t many on the market. The ones that are, fly off the shelf in a little over a month after they are listed.
There are some wonderful neighborhoods in Prescott Valley and the home styles are pretty much what you’d expect in the Southwestern part of the country.
No matter what end of the real estate market you’re looking at, it’s always a good idea to have real estate professionals who know their way around Prescott Valley at your side. You’ll want someone who has their figure on the pulse of the market. For that, you should contact Arizona Network Realty because they are trustworthy and know the Prescott Valley real estate market like few others.
Check out their website or give them a call. Don’t worry, you won’t have to use a mirror and the sun to send them a message. They have telephones.
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