Virgin Mary

Hereford, Arizona, United States

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Landmarks and monuments

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A 31-foot statue of the Virgin Mary stands at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Sierras near Hereford, Arizona, in the Huachuca Mountains. Arizona Highways (2025) says construction began in 1993 and the statue and a 75-foot Celtic cross were completed in 1997.

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Virgin Mary

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Approximate location · 31.434° N, 110.096° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A 31-foot statue of the Virgin Mary stands at 5,300 feet in the Huachuca Mountains, one arm pointing to a 75-foot Celtic cross and the other toward the Mexico-Arizona border a few miles away, according to the Arlington Catholic Herald in 2019.

The Shrine of Our Lady of the Sierras near Hereford began as a retirement plan. Gerald and Patricia Chouinard, from Illinois, bought eight acres in Ash Canyon in 1988, Arizona Highways (November 2025) reports. After a November 1990 pilgrimage to Medjugorje, where they stood beside the large stone cross on Mount Krizevac, they decided to raise a cross and a statue of Mary on their own land.

Cochise County regulations did not normally allow structures above 30 feet, and some neighbours objected, but the couple prevailed. Arizona Highways says construction began in 1993 and the cross and statue were completed in 1997, with a small stone chapel finished the next year using river rock from a nearby wash and limestone from Mexico. The Herald gives 1998 for completion of the shrine. Arizona Highways says the cross was fabricated in fibreglass, steel and concrete by a Tucson company.

In June 2011 the Monument Fire, which started in Mexico, swept through the area. The Herald reports that the chapel's original interior was destroyed and many homes, including the Chouinards', were damaged or lost, while the cross and statue survived undamaged. Arizona Highways says the interior was rebuilt in 2012.

Fourteen Stations of the Cross, added in 2002, line a 600-foot trail from the parking lot, according to the Herald.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Arizona Highways (November 2025) describes the shrine as privately owned but open to the public, with the statue, a 75-foot Celtic cross, a small chapel and a grotto among live oaks. The Arlington Catholic Herald (2019) describes a 600-foot trail of outdoor Stations of the Cross from the parking lot. The foundation's own site (2026) gives the statue's height as 30 feet, against 31 feet in the two articles.

ACCESS

In the Huachuca Mountains near Hereford. Visible from State Route 92; Arizona Highways describes a steep, winding road leading up to the shrine. Arizona Highways (November 2025) describes the shrine as privately owned but open to the public, and the Our Lady of the Sierras Foundation's own site (2026) calls it a small private shrine open to the public.

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Jimmy's Hot Dog Company

Bisbee, Arizona

Jimmy's Hot Dog Co. is a Chicago-style hot dog restaurant at 938 W State Route 92, Bisbee, Arizona, in a mustard-coloured building with a 12-foot-tall wiener mounted on the roof, according to Arizona Highways.

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16 km away

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