Tour Jerome’s historical homes, dine
Homes from throughout Jerome’s history will be open to visitors during the Jerome Historic Home Tour. Participants can tour a house built in 1898, explore a Victorian home with a turret and see where a star of the HGTV show “Ellen’s Design Challenge” lives. Here are things to do in Jerome.
Eat
The Asylum Restaurant is not just a place for a superb meal. It’s a repeat recipient of Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence. Asylum is housed in the Jerome Grand Hotel. Views across the Verde Valley are as delicious as anything on the menu. With 200 bottled wines and 25 available by the glass, no one leaves the Asylum thirsty.
Try the roasted-butternut-squash soup, a colorful, creamy bowl with a dash of cinnamon-lime crema and green onions. Sonoran spiced-chicken pasta was moist and smothered in a creamy, flavorful sauce over organic brown rice. Roasted peppers, macadamia nuts, onions and chile pepper were well blended. There are interesting options for vegetarians, too. At dessert, the delicious creme brulee had a golden-brown sugar crust and a creamy center.
Details: 200 Hill St. 928-639-3197, www.theasy lum.biz.
Play
Seven homes, including the current and former homes of furniture designer Tim McClellan, a contestant on “Ellen’s Design Challenge,” will be featured on the 50th annual Jerome Historic Home Tour. A home by Paul Nonnast, an artist who studied with architect Paolo Soleri, also will be on this guided tour in the mile-high former mining town that is now an artists’ community. The tour includes many steps and is not wheelchair-accessible.
Details: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, May 1617. Lawrence Memorial Hall (Spook Hall), 260 Hull Ave. $20, $10 for ages 3-12. 928-634-2900, Jerome Chamber of Commerce, jeromechamber .com.
Stay
The Connor Hotel was built in 1898 and it reopened after a 20-year hiatus in 2000. Today it offers modern conveniences smack in the center of Jerome. It’s also perched above the renowned party bar, the Spirit Room. The bar is known for live music and rowdy crowd on weekends. Ask for a room farther from the bar if you don’t enjoy that scene.
The hotel offers tasteful Victorian decor, antique furniture and fresh flowers. Like many old Jerome buildings, the Connor Hotel is purportedly haunted.
Details: 164 Main St. 928-634-5006, www.con norhotel.com.