The Story
He barely noticed her weight as he carried her over the threshold for the first time. Her parents hadn’t approved of their marriage but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from spending the rest of his life with this beautiful, kind, and gentle woman.⠀
The home was modest but, perched high on the hillside, he felt like he was giving her a castle to overlook her kingdom. From where they were, she could watch over his little gas station down the hill as he worked through the day tending to all the tourists that passed through the little town of Jerome. ⠀
It was a wonderful life for the first few years as their family grew by two boys. But soon the long hours at the station took their toll. He didn’t have time to care for their little castle or even their marriage and growing family. The deterioration of the home was just an outward sign of what was happening within the four small walls. ⠀
As the foundation began to slip down the side of the hill, so too did their marriage. They each began to falter until neither were stable.⠀One day, he came home and found his wife and children were gone.
But was it normal stressors of life and land that forced both his marriage and home to have been abandoned?
Or was something else seeping into all that he once held so dear?
The History
This is part 2 of 5 of my Historic Jerome series. While all of the stories are made up, I pulled some historical facts into some of them as well.
This home is located up on the side of one of the many hills in Jerome, AZ and the foundation is quickly deteriorating.
Jerome is an old copper mining town that now serves more tourists than miners. It has a famous jail nicknamed “Sliding Jail” because it has slowly slid downhill and is now approximately 200 feet lower than where it was originally built. This may be due to underground blasting that has caused the earth to be unstable.