Desert Diamond Distillery oak barrels

Mohave Museum Presidential Galley

Buckeye Bullet in the Electric Vehicle Museum

Buckeye Bullet 2.5 "Speeding Toward the Future" description

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1. Kingman is home to the world’s first and only museum dedicated to electric vehicles. The Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum opened in 2014 in a 3,600 ft2 exhibit with a handful of vehicles. There are 21 (and counting) vehicles on loan from the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation. Displays include the Buckeye Bullet 2.5 (the 2nd world’s fastest electric vehicle, clocked at over 320 mph), a golf cart specially manufactured for and owned by Willie Nelson, the world’s first all-electric hot rod and many more.

2. Desert Diamond Distillery is the oldest working distillery in AZ since prohibition, even if it didn’t open its doors until April of 2010. The little rum factory offers tours and tastings and is craft certified by the American Distillers Institute, fermenting and distilling 100% of their product on-site in a state-of-the-art Arnold Holstein German still. The Distillery even uses the spirits to make vanilla extracts. All of the 4 rums and the vodka have awards and medals at the international level:

• Gold Miner White Rum: 2011 SIP (Spirits International Prestige) Awards Bronze.


• Gold Miner Dark Rum: 2010 Ministry of Rum in the Caribbean Bronze, 2011 SIP Awards Platinum.


• Gold Miner Agave Rum: 2011 SIP (Spirits International Prestige) Awards Silver Medal.


• Gold Miner Barrel Reserve Rum (aged 5 years):  2015 San Francisco World Spirit Competition Bronze, 2016 New York World Spirit Competition Silver.


• Gold Miner Vodka: 2011 SIP (Spirits International Prestige) Awards Silver Medal.

Not only does Kingman have an operating distillery, it has two wineries (Stetson Winery and Cella Winery, which released a 2015 Malbec Private Reserve Estate Wine this month) and a brewery, Black Bridge Brewery, that uses Desert Diamond Distillery spent rum barrels to draft Old Pretender Scotch Strong Ale. Monkey Fist Brewery, Kingman’s second brewery, is slated to open early 2017.

3. White Cliffs Wagon Trail, near Historic Downtown Kingman, is one of the few places in the American Southwest where wagon ruts can still be observed etched out in the rock. It was en route to the gold rush of Stockton Hill around 1890, about 8 miles north of town. At that time, Arizona did not have a facility for the mentally ill, i. e. an “insane asylum”, so patents were sent to the institution in Stockton, CA. It is said, that the prospectors heading for the hills acted so crazy, that they were headed for Stockton. Thus - Stockton Hill. Much of that old trail is now Stockton Hill Road (County Hwy 20), the road taken daily by thousands heading for Grand Canyon West.

4. The Mohave Museum of History & Arts has one of only three complete collections of presidential portraits on display. The other two are housed at the Whitehouse and in the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian. Acording to the Smithsonian, "The nation’s only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House. " Little did they know that a small Museum in Northern Arizona had one too.

The collection in Kingman, like that of the Whitehouse, includes portraits of every First Lady as well. Another interesting note, not every First Lady was the wife of the sitting President. Such as the Andrew Jackson’s (7th President) daughter-in-law Sarah York Jackson who held the post from 1834 to 1837. You can visit the Mohave Museum’s Presidential Portrait Gallery on weekdays from 9am to 5pm and on Saturday from 1 to 5pm.

5. And finally for a little holiday cheer. . . The Preston Christmas Home, one of the featured homes on ABC's 2016 Great Christmas Light Flight is in Kingman, AZ. Phoenix ABC 15 reports "David Preston and his wife have decorated their home with more than 277,000 lights that are synchronized to various holiday songs. It takes him 30 days, with help, to put up all those lights. " You can drive by and see the house yourself, Google Maps link here, or watch a clip from the show below.

Interested in more Kingman news and information? Check out. . .

5 things you probably didn’t know about Route 66 history

5 reasons why Kingman is RV heaven

Kingman in 60 seconds

To see more interesting facts, visit our Fun Facts page