Millions of people visit Sedona, Arizona every year, which is pretty amazing because it is a town of around 11,000. It is not a major metropolis and it doesn't have a major amusement park, but it rivals those places as one of America's premier tourist attractions. At the same time, it doesn't have an overmarketed or "touristy" feel, which is one of the reasons it's so popular.

In other tourist locations, you'll see strip malls containing store after store selling the same types of souvenirs. These overly manufactured shops tend to lend a commercialized feel to a city--this isn't the case in Sedona. This isn't to say that you can't find souvenirs in Sedona, but the town is not overrun with trinket shops. There is actually a concerted effort by city planners to make the town as peaceful and tranquil as the surrounding area--not to cheapen the natural beauty.

The History of Sedona
Sedona is relatively young. It was first made popular by Carl Schnebly. He came to the town in 1901. There were only six families living in Sedona at the time. It's amazing to think of the Old West surviving into the 20th century, but that's how it was. Schnebly produced a fruit orchard and then established a store to sell the produce.

The store became the community focal point. Soon Schnebly opened up a post office, but it needed a name. The town was almost called Schnebly, Arizona, but instead, he named the post office after his wife, Sedona. Eventually the movie business discovered that Sedona was a great place to film a number of Westerns, and Sedona, Arizona became what it is today.

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