Writer, poet, naturalist, environmentalist, artist – Geoffrey Platts was an explorer of the world, but there was no place he loved more than the Sonoran Desert, the place he dedicated his life to preserving. Learn more about this expatriate Brit who grew up in the blustery dales of Yorkshire but bloomed in the hot sun of Arizona. The Cave Creek resident’s journals of solitary meanderings through the desert eventually earned him the title “Poet Laureate of Scottsdale and Cave Creek.”

The Cave Creek Museum is excited to announce that the Arizona Mining, Mineral, and Natural Resources Museum has offered us, on loan, this astonishing display for our 2021-2022 Season. Combining geology with gastronomy, mouth-watering ‘dishes’ were created out of minerals and rocks with a striking resemblance to eatable food. You won’t fail to be amazed and amused by this fascinating exhibit.

Enjoy this diorama of our own Golden Reef Stamp Mill as it looked on the side of Continental Mountain. This clever and amazingly detailed and accurate model is the work of long-time Museum volunteer Jay F. Williams. He is better known as “Grandpa Jay” by the hundreds of students he has guided through the Museum over the years.

Located on private property, The Cave is not accessible to the ordinary visitor. Yet you can experience it at the Cave Creek Museum as a scale model. The exhibit was created by volunteer local artists with a video of the historic 40-foot-long chamber set in the side of a local bluff.  The Cave was occupied through the centuries by prehistoric Indians, transient tribes, soldiers traveling Military Road, miners in search of shelter, a hermit, and even into the 70’s, as a gathering place for “free spirits,” each group leaving their own footnote in the history of the foothills.

For several Seasons, the Cave Creek Museum has been proud to offer a venue that has featured a single Cave Creek artist—but for this Season, we’ll be celebrating the amazing collection of art we have accrued through the generosity of our donors.

The Museum is excited to announce the return of our Archeology exhibit featuring artifacts from local excavations of the Quarter Circle One, Mueller and Shogur sites. We have also added new artifacts from the recently donated Staymate Collection.