Back in its heyday in the late 1800s , Hackberry was a thriving ranching and excavation town in the northwesterly Arizona desert , create over $ 3 million in gold and silver before the Hackberry Silver Mine shut down in 1919 . It ’s trust the townsfolk was distinguish for the large hackberry tree that get near the mine .
When US Route 66 was established a decade later , it follow the railroad track through Hackberry and the townsfolk became a major service closure for traveler on the honest-to-god main road .
After Route 66 was decommission in party favour of the new Interstate 40 , Hackberry was left abandon 15 miles from the newfangled highway with no exit ramp for its local thoroughfare , Hackberry Road . The last remain servicing , Northside Grocery and Conoco Station , ultimately closed their doors in 1978 due to lack of traffic .
These day , the petite community ( do n’t blink or you ’ll drive properly past it ) has been resurrect from ghost Ithiel Town condition . It now sit down on Arizona State Route 66 , a scenic route that meanders through the Hualapai Reservation . The Hackberry Post Office serve 68 residential letter box . And the town has its own attraction for Historic Route 66 aficionados : Hackberry General Store .
There was n’t much unexpended of Hackberry whenBob Waldmire , an itinerant creative person known for his depictions of Historic Route 66 , open theHackberry General Storeon the former site of Northside Grocery in 1992 . The store became a roadside tribute to Route 66 as well as a visitor ’ sum and souvenir shop . According to theVictoria Advocate , Waldmire was the town ’s only resident in 1997 . The stock change hand a year later to its present proprietor , John and Kerry Pritchard , and remains a quarry stop for main road tourists and a museum of Route 66 relics .
Hackberry General Store has been name “ the female parent lode of Mother Road memorabilia , ” and houses a charming clutter of vintage gasoline ticker , cannister route signs , and classic American raging rods , all out in the open for the great unwashed to bask .
We were en road to Peach Springs ( the town on which the Pixar filmCarswas base ) and happen to stop in Hackberry to stretch out our legs after a five - hour drive across California .
If any shoes could perfectly capsule what Route 66 was all about , it would be Hackberry General Store . Situated on the other side of the tracks from the town of Hackberry ( I did see a few homes out there , large plate on even larger portion at the base of the Peacock Mountains ) , the store was bustling with visitant . Well , bustling as much as a midway - of - nowhere finish could bustle , that is .
The store stood as a shrine to American road junkies , and a wander around the property unearthed all manner of memorabilia , from a Model T flatbed truck to a pile of vintage hubcaps . They come from the various mini markets , help garages , and service stations that once subsist on Route 66 — I even fleck an passee enamel stave and an honest-to-goodness wooden outhouse !
Though we did n’t go inside the factual cosmopolitan storehouse , we were state it expect the finest Route 66 beer on the whole highway . We filed this fact away in our brains for the next time we excrete through … hopefully on a long road trip-up on the Mother Road !
