Tonopah, AZ Real Estate

Tonopah is a small unincorporated community fifty miles west of Phoenix and is home to the Palo Verde Nuclear Plant, which is the largest in the United States. It is a community of a little less than 6,000 residents. This tiny community was originally known as Lone Peak, but for some unknown reason in the early 1930s the railroad called this community Tonopah. The name stuck. Tonopah means water under the bush in Apache and is a reference to the Harquahala Valley which sits atop an extensive subterranean aquifer, so it is an appropriate name. The ease to find water when digging a well gave this community life and continues to do so today.

Many homes on acreage in Tonopah are served by wells, either one of their own one shared with a neighbor. There are many homes in Tonopah that sit of five to ten acre lots providing plenty of room for gardens, horses and growing families. One such place is Tonopah Rob’s Vegetable Farm. Tonopah Rob is a natural vegetable farmer who uses insects to control other insect populations that most farmers would combat with pesticides. With his army of lady bugs, green lacewings, tricograma wasps, assassin bugs, iguanas, roadrunners and rattlesnakes, his produce flourishes and is some of the finest around.

In addition to offering a peaceful lifestyle, moderately priced homes on large lots, the opportunity to farm or raise horses, Tonopah also offers star gazers a great place to call home. Tonopah is just far enough away from the glow of the Phoenix city lights, to allow clear viewing of celestial events. You can set up your lawn chairs, your telescope, and enjoy the peaceful serenity of the desert while waiting for an asteroid shower, or to see the tail of a passing comet. Tonopah is full of wide open spaces and the starry night sky just seems to unfold endlessly above.

Tonopah is a quaint rural community with a flavor all its own, and while there are not an abundance of shopping and dining choices, there are just enough for everyday enjoyment. Should residents desire something a bit more upscale, they can drive a few miles down the road to Buckeye and find whatever they are looking for. Tonopah is a community where a tranquil quality of life is more important than having half occupied strip malls on every corner. That is why the recent attempt to incorporate, in 2009 failed. The residents were ever mindful of the fact that their mere 6,000 residents may not have the resources to support the infrastructure and economic demands of managing the nearly 100 square miles of land the community possesses.

Tonopah is great place to live if you desire to live in harmony with the desert and inn a community that still possesses and exercises old fashioned values and common sense. Home prices are fair and range from the mid 70’s to the high 300’s, land is plentiful as is water. It is close enough to metro Phoenix so you can enjoy all the shopping, events, and recreation offered by the nation’s fifth largest city without the hustle and bustle of living in it.