In Sundial Circle stands the Carefree Sundial, 90 feet across, pointed at the North Star and covered in anodized copper, which the town page says claims to be the “third largest sundial in the Western Hemisphere”. The Carefree Sundial is printed on this map, along with the CIVANA Wellness Resort and Spa, Our Lady of Joy Roman Catholic Church, SkyRanch at Carefree and the RH Crossland Foundation Historical Sports and History Museum, with Black Mountain and Galloway Wash shaping the land.
Carefree is in northeastern Maricopa County, north of Phoenix and Scottsdale.
KNOWOL made this map in 2026 and gave it the look of an old atlas. The shaded relief of Black Mountain comes from United States Geological Survey elevation data, and the streets were drawn from Census Bureau files. The town covers 8.8 square miles and is bordered by Scottsdale to the south and east and by Cave Creek to the west. Carefree had 3,690 people at the 2020 census.
A town on paper
Carefree was planned before it was built. In the mid-1950s the business partners K.T. Palmer and Tom Darlington conceived it as a master-planned community, land sales began in 1955 and the first homes went up in 1958. The town incorporated in 1984 to avoid being annexed by Scottsdale. Carefree and Cave Creek are sometimes thought of as one community, and they share a landmark in Black Mountain, which rises more than 1,000 feet above them to 3,398 feet. Its page says a popular and challenging trail climbs it from a trailhead in Cave Creek, ending in a rock scramble and a view all the way around the Valley. The Hohokam were the first people around the mountain, appearing about 750, and evidence of them there fades around 1450.
Sundial Circle
The architect Joe Wong and the solar engineer John I. Yellott designed the sundial, and it went up in the Sundial Circle plaza in 1959. It has a steel frame covered in anodized copper, and its gnomon, the part that casts the shadow, stands 35 feet above the plaza and reaches out 72 feet.
The studio and the song
Carefree was long the home of Southwestern Studios, built in 1968 as Fred Graham Studios by the actor, stuntman and Arizona Film Commissioner Fred Graham. The 160-acre property had three soundstages and a western street and backlot. The New Dick Van Dyke Show was made on Stage 1 in the early 1970s, Bob Hope shot his last feature film, Cancel My Reservation, at the studio, and the western street turned up again in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Later renamed Carefree Studios, it was torn down in 1999, and the land became shops and homes. The broadcaster Hugh Downs, a Carefree resident, produced and hosted two pilot episodes of a show called Foursome there in 1973 and 1974.
Gordon Lightfoot’s 1974 hit “Carefree Highway” took its title from a section of State Route 74 in north Phoenix. Driving from Flagstaff to Phoenix, he saw a sign with those words pointing toward the town of Carefree, wrote them down and kept the note in his suitcase for eight months. The song reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The highway runs from the foot of Tom Darlington Drive at the southwest corner of Carefree about 30 miles west to Lake Pleasant Parkway in Peoria.
Click to explore a larger preview. The digital watermark does not appear on printed maps.
Names on this map
These names are printed on this map.
Streets and roads: E Lone Mountain Rd N, E Azure Hills Dr, Highland Rd, E Ridgecrest Rd, E Arroyo Rd, Maguay Rd, E Saber Rd, Tanya Rd, E Lasalle Rd, S E Miramonte Dr, E Rancho Manana Blvd, E Valley Way.
More street names, A to Z
Autoplane Dr, Blevens Rd, Bloody Basin, Brahma Rd, Branding Iron Rd, Breathless Dr, Burton Rd, Carefree Dr, Cave Creek Rd, Celestial St, Concho Ln, Cow Track Dr, Creek Rd, Crisscross Way, Dog Leg Dr, Eagle Dr, E Andora Hills Dr, E Bella Vista Dr, E Black Mountain Rd, E Cassandra Dr, E Cloud Rd, E Clubhouse Rd, E Fleming Springs Rd, E Granite Pass Rd, E Grape Vine Rd, E Hawknest Rd, E Hawksnest Rd, E Horizon Ci, E Ironwood Dr, E Jack Neville Dr, E Languid Ln, E Larry Hughes Dr, E Legend Trail Pkwy, El Sendero Rd, E Maguay Dr, E Maverick Cir, E Military Rd, E Olesen Rd, E Paint Pony, E Perdido Dr, E Pso Dulce, E Red Lawrence Dr, E Ridgeline Rd, E Rifle Rd, E Robert Hunter Dr, E Saguaro Rd, E Serene St, E Seven Palms Dr, E Skyline Dr, E Stagecoach Pass, E Sundance Trl, E Tecolote Cr, E Thompson Ln, E Viola Ln, E Yucca Rd, Golden Spur Rd, Grapevine Rd, Horizon Dr, Indian Camp Trl, Ind Rd, Languid Ln, Longhorn Rd, Long Rifle Rd, Montello Rd, Mountain Rd, Mule Train Rd, N Charles Blair Macdonald Rd, N Concho Ln, N Desert Pkwy, N Tom Darlington Dr, Ocotillo Ridge Dr, Old Paint Trl, Paint Pony Dr, Preserve Way, Restin Rd, Ridge Dr, Secluded Ln, Serene St, Sombrero Rd, Spanish Boot Rd, Spring Rd, S Stardust Ln, Stage Coach Pass, Stevens Rd, Sunfield Dr, Sun Rd, Tecolote Cir, Tom Darlington Dr, Tumacacori Way, Venus Dr.
Around Carefree
State Route 74 runs along the town’s southern edge, and Cave Creek Road comes up the east side before curving into an east to west road through Carefree. SkyRanch at Carefree is printed on the map. The town page describes SkyRanch as a private airport in Carefree. The CIVANA Wellness Resort and Spa, Our Lady of Joy Roman Catholic Church and the RH Crossland Foundation Historical Sports and History Museum are printed as well, and so is Galloway Wash. You’ll also find the Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center. Snow is rare, but the town page records the last measurable snowfall on February 22, 2019, when 3 to 6 inches fell, depending on the elevation.
This Carefree map is a good addition to an office, library or den, and it can help teach children the geography and history of the area. It’s made for anyone who calls Carefree home, from Sundial Circle to the slopes of Black Mountain, and KNOWOL created it in 2026 to show the town as it looks today. Zoom in on the preview above to explore the details, then click here to get your copy of the Carefree map.
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