Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!
The Cameron Suspension Bridge was built over the Little Colorado River in 1911 to provide better access to the Navajo Nation and Hopi Indian Reservation. The bridge originally carried highway 89 and nearly collapsed under the weight of too many sheep in 1937. The town replaced it with a more modern bridge in 1959.
The Richardson Brothers established the Cameron Trading post five years after the suspension bridge went up. The Navajo and Hopi came to the trading post to barter for dry goods. As the town grew up around the bridge and trading post, it became a hotel for the area’s tourists.
Today, it is a Southwestern version of the Cracker Barrel, with a restaurant and large gift shop and an adjoining motel. We stopped there on our way to the Grand Canyon to use the restroom. We perused the native crafts available in the gift shop, walked through the motel’s courtyard garden and took some photos of the historic bridge and canyon from the back of their property.
Location: US Highway 89, 54 Miles North of Flagstaff, Cameron, AZ
Designation: National Register of Historic Places
Date designated/established: June 5, 1986
Date of my visit: August 19, 2014
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