A Peek at Columnist Kraig Nelson

Posted By The Peak on Jun 30, 2020

June 30, 2020

By Kraig R. Nelson, Historian and Associate Broker

Kraig Nelson

For the past five years, I have had the honor and pleasure of writing two monthly columns, History Highlights and Realty Reality, for this esteemed publication. I submitted four history columns for the yearly ”Write Stuff” contest from 2013 to 2016. Each history submission was an award winner, and this was my entrée to writing monthly columns for The Peek at the Peak.

When asked to briefly discuss my background for this publication, I experienced consternation. As a public speaker and writer I avoid, that is I preclude, two personal pronouns: I and me. That may be impossible in this article given the thesis, so I will concentrate on brevity. Shakespeare was on to something when his character Polonius proclaimed in Hamlet, Act l, Scene ll, “Since brevity is the soul of wit, I will be brief.”

History and Real Estate may be disparate topics, but I have a passion for both. In fact, I have an insatiable passion for learning in general, coupled with my passion for serving the community. Okay, time for the dreadful excursion into self-aggrandizement.

I work in the academic world and in the business world. My Arizona real estate career started in 1984 when I joined Coldwell Banker in Scottsdale. I eventually moved into the New-Home industry. After working over twenty years for some of the largest and top homebuilders in the world, I am now an Associate Broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, one of the most respected and largest conglomerates in the world.

I joined the accredited and internationally recognized Cave Creek Museum in 2008 as a docent. I started writing a monthly column for the Museum in 2011; additionally, I’m one of the co-authors of the Museum’s 2013 book, Images of America- Cave Creek and Carefree. In 2016, the Museum’s Board of Directors approved my position as Historian for the Cave Creek Museum. In 2012, I was honored to be published in America’s oldest western publication, True West Magazine, based in Cave Creek. Additionally, I have been honored as “Volunteer of the Year” for the accredited Desert Foothill Land Trust and “Docent of the Year” for the Cave Creek Museum. Since 2011, I have been a member of the Arizona Archaeological Society which facilitates lectures from some of America’s top archaeologists. I have completed advanced coursework for the “Avocational Archaeologist” program.

Another academic passion involves my duties giving public tours and private presentations for corporate groups at Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, since 2013. Taliesin West is Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and school and is the only National Historic Landmark and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Arizona. One of my presentations on campus at the Taliesin School of Architecture (graduate school, currently on hiatus) was recorded, and is used at Johns Hopkins University in an “Introduction to Southwest Studies Class.” Finally (mercifully), I’m a Booster for the Carefree/Cave Creek Chamber of Commerce and have been writing about  local history since 2013, including the history of Cave Creek and Carefree for the yearly Chamber Guide, distributed locally and globally.

I have to give credit to my parents for my trenchant interest in learning. My Dad was a tenured college professor and taught for forty years. My Mom was an elementary teacher and taught for thirty years. With my parent’s encouragement, I was a National Honor Society Student, matriculated two Universities (Minnesota State University at Mankato, and the University Minnesota), and became a licensed Realtor in Minnesota before moving to Scottsdale in 1977, at the age of twenty-two.

I would like to finish with one of my favorite quotes from President Teddy Roosevelt, “Before people care how much you know, they want to know how much you care.” And now a quote from me, “May your history be honorable, may your future be historic, and always…keep learning.”

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