Phoenix in the footsteps of of a GOP legend

July 6, 9:08 PMPhoenix Travel ExaminerJay Hammond

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The Republican Party predates Arizona statehood. So does one of the Arizona's most noted Republicans.

No, not John McCain. The other failed presidential candidate from Arizona and the man whose Senate seat McCain took over in 1986, Barry Goldwater. Goldwater left his mark not just on American politics but also on the Arizona landscape he loved.

"People of means come here from other parts of the country, just for the delight of living in the Valley of the Sun." Barry Goldwater (1940)

Home Base

The most obvious place to begin is where many visitors begin their Arizona journey: the Barry Goldwater Terminal at Sky Harbor International Airport. This terminal is one of the busiest transit points in the state. Also called Terminal 4, it serves passengers and crews aboard US Airways and Southwest Airlines flights. The terminal was built in 1990 at a cost of $250 million. The association of Goldwater's name with the busiest terminal in one of the nation's busiest airports is a fitting tribute to a man who was a lifelong promoter of Arizona and loved to fly.

"Perhaps it is the splendid isolation of being alone in the air which fascinates me," Goldwater wrote in his memoirs, "or it might be the perspective which comes from looking down on every part of the world."

Speaking of Arizona statehood, on Arizona Statehood Day or February 14, 2004, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whose name Goldwater had suggested to President Ronald Reagan as a candidate for the Supreme Court, dedicated the Goldwater Memorial in Paradise Valley, AZ. The 10-foot-tall bronze statue of Goldwater is the creation of Goldwater friend and founding member of the Cowboy Artists of America, Joe Beeler (1931-2006). The Goldwater Memorial Park is located at the northeast corner of Lincoln Dr. and Tatum Blvd.

The Goldwaters called Paradise Valley home for many years but that didn’t mean they didn't bring some of the Arizona frontier Barry loved so much into town with them. The family home at 6250 N. Hogahn is named Be-Nun-I-Kin, which means "house on the hill" in Navajo. The family sold the 6,300-foot home a couple of years after Goldwater's death with the condition that it be restored and maintained. It remains a private residence today.

Visitors can get a sense of the landscape Goldwater called home by visiting Christ Church of the Ascension at 4015 E. Lincoln Dr. in Paradise Valley. The 8.5 acres on which the striking mission-style buildings stand were half sold and half donated to the Episcopal church by the Goldwaters.

Not far from the Goldwater Memorial and the Goldwater home, is the Camelback Inn. This historic resort was election night headquarters for Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964. Reopening in September 2008 after an extensive renovation taking more than a year, it is just the place for weary travelers to rest their heads. With more than 450 guest room, the Camelback Inn, a JW Marriott Resort & Spa, offers guests a variety of dining options, two-18-hole championship golf-courses, a full-service spa and plenty of room for meetings, conference and special events.

Downtown Phoenix

Barry Goldwater was born at 710 N. Central Ave. in Phoenix in 1909. Arizona would become a state in 1912. Goldwater's family founded the department store of that name in downtown Phoenix. Barry took over the family business after the death of his father, Baron, in 1930. Although neither the home nor the store remain, Goldwater continues drawing people to the heart Phoenix.

Goldwater donated his collection of 437 katsina (sometimes called kachina) dolls as well as more than 1,000 photographic slides to the Heard Museum, where he served on the board of directors. They are among the museum's most prized possessions. Many of the Goldwater katsina dolls are part of the Heard's signature exhibit, Home: Native Peoples in the Southwest. The Heard Museum is located at 2301 N. Central Ave. in Phoenix.

Just south of Sky Harbor is the Arizona Air National Guard base for the 161st Air Refueling Wing. The KC-13R Stratotankers that are the primary aircraft flown by the wing provide high-speed aerial refueling in support of global air operations. The base is also home to the 111th Space Operations Squadron which operates balloons in near space and assists with the ground communications of the Air Force Space Command. Goldwater founded the Arizona Air National Guard after World War II. Like many Arizonans, he had an abiding interest in space and UFOs. Tours of the base at 3200 E. Old Tower Rd. in Phoenix can be arranged by contacting the Public Affairs office at (602) 302-9000.

The Suburbs and Beyond

"The natural thing to which to turn was the capitalization of our climate, our natural beauties, and the romance of our desert." Barry Goldwater (1940)

Heading farther north and west visitors will find Barry Goldwater High School at 2820 W. Rose Garden Lane in Phoenix. Goldwater only briefly attended public school in Phoenix, but we named one after him anyway. Goldwater also spent a year at the University of Arizona in Tucson and was given a honorary degrees by Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. ASU, home to the Arizona Historical Foundation, also houses Goldwater's papers.

Skirting the metro area to the North and East visitors will encounter the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal which carries water from the Colorado River 336 miles from Lake Havasu City to Tucson. Senator Goldwater led the Arizona congressional delegation that secured federal funding for the $4.5 billion project which is among the largest public works projects in history. The system of canals, tunnels and aqueducts transporting 1.5 million acre feet of water per week is an amazing sight from anywhere along its route.

Keeping with the water theme, you can find Goldwater Lake, a 15-acre lake that's great place for fishing, canoeing and kayaking Prescott. Goldwater's love for the outdoors found expression in fishing, boating and hiking from an early age. Surrounded by hiking trails, a sand volleyball court, a playground, restrooms and armadas, Goldwater Lake is a great getaway any time of year.

On the Photographic Trail of More Goldwater Landmarks

"I started going around the state taking pictures of out of the way, seldom visited places," the book Barry Goldwater: Native Arizonan quotes him as saying.

Barry Goldwater was a superb photographer. He entered his first photographic art exhibit, the First Annual Salon of the Arizona Pictoralists in 1935. Eventually he would exhibit photographs in more than 200 national and international juried shows. He sold his first photograph to Arizona Highways in 1939. His photographs regularly appeared in the magazine for more than 50 years. He also published two books of his photographs.

After his death in 1998, his photographs were left to three institutions, including the Heard Museum. Several of his photos can also be viewed online through the Barry M. Goldwater: An Arizona Legend collection of the Arizona Memory Project.

His photographs are excellent inspiration for developing your own explorations of Phoenix and beyond.

"A quintessential westerner and a man of great personal charm, Mr. Goldwater was an incurable gadgeteer who loved such devices as the electronically operated flagpole at his Arizona home that was rigged to raise the flag at the precise moment it was struck by the rays of the morning sun. He was an enthusiastic ham radio operator, airplane pilot and photographer who loved to take pictures of the people and landscapes of the American West," the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwater30.htm recalled in 1998.

Few of the Goldwater landmarks are your usual tourist destinations. Then again, Barry Goldwater was not your usual Republican. He was your usual Arizonan only in the sense that he was hard-working, passionate, creative, fearless and truly unique.

"You, you are a great man. You are with the elders now. You are a chief," Robert Tree Cody, also known as Thunder Bear, said of Goldwater. "My people will never forget you as long as we live,"