Tombstone, AZ

Tombstone, Arizona is an interesting mix of history and tourism. It has earned a reputation as "the town to tough to die", as it has gone from booming mining economies to almost a ghost town and back to a thriving community more than once! Tombstone traces its beginnings to 1877 when prospector Ed Schieffelin undaunted by fierce Apaches found a rich silver strike just outside the current city limits. Prior to his find the soldiers at nearby Camp Huachuca had jokingly stated that the only thing he would find would be his tombstone, so upon staking his claim he named it "The Tombstone"! He named another claim "The Graveyard". Ed and his brother would have the last laugh when in 1880 they received $6,000,000 for their claims!   

In 1878, the year after his first claim (The Tombstone), the Good Enough Mine was established by Ed Schieffelin. It produced some of the purest silver ore ever discovered! It wasn't long before Ed had filed 19 claims nearby and formed the Tombstone Consolidated Mines Company. It is said that 300 miles of mine tunnels run under and around the city of Tombstone! One even leads to the basement of Big Nose Kate's Saloon and can still be seen today! A variety of tours are offered of the Good Enough mine. The basic tour is $15.00, and reviews say it's well worth it!

In 1881 Schieffelin Hall was built as a venue for theatrical and musical performances. It is where the respectable folks went.

By 1881 Tombstone's population had reached 10,000 and rivaled both Tucson (the Pima County seat and Prescott (the territorial capital)! The residents voted to separate from Pima County and the territorial legislature subsequently formed what is now Cochise County. The Cochise County courthouse was built in 1882. Tombstone was the Cochise County seat until 1929 when it moved to Bisbee. Today the courthouse is a museum managed as a state park. Admission is $5.00.

The main street of historic Tombstone is blocked off from vehicle traffic except for a tour trolley. There are stagecoach and carriage tours, as well as, walking tours providing narratives as to the history of the community. These tours are approximately $10.00 each. I found the shops and restaurants in this tourist area to pleasantly intermingle tourism with history. The restaurants seem reasonably priced, but it becomes quickly obvious that a lot could be spent quickly on tourist attractions! Here are a few things to see while in town with the 2015 prices. I found while researching attractions online that admission prices seemed only scarcely available! Here are a few things to do that we discovered:  a. The O.K. Corral at the Historama - $10.00 gets a 45 minute film viewing of Tombstone's history and an O.K. Corral shootout re-enactment. b. Tour Big Nose Kate's Saloon/gift shop/mine entrance - free! c. Step into the Crystal Palace restaurant to see the ornate 1800s wood/mirror bar replica. d. Walk through the rebuilt Oriental casino (now a clothing/gift shop) to see an ornate 1800s wood/mirror bar - free! d. Tour the historic Epitaph Newspaper building - The museum of period printing equipment and a video of the process of printing an 1800s newspaper is free! e. See a bar room cowboy gunfight set-up in the historic Watt and Tarbell Undertakers building - $8.00. f. Tour the original Bird Cage Theater - The lobby is free and the self guided tour of the theater is $10.00. g. See the world's largest rose tree - Even without blooming the price was $5.00.  It blooms around March or April. h. Boot Hill Cemetary.  It is said to be certified as the original.  It is now a tourist attraction with a gift shop. - free! There are other museums and ghost tours of which fees are unknown. You get the idea, though. Choose your tourist attractions wisely!        

In 1883 Tombstone was on the fast track from being a mining camp to being a municipality! It boasted a large red-light district and more gambling houses and saloons than any town in the Southwest! During this period, some 110 saloons were constructed, among them being the elegant Crystal Palace. There was the Bird Cage Theater and Schieffelin Hall for theatrical and musical performances. There were multiple newspapers, four churches, a public library, and a swimming pool!

Over the years two devastating fires swept through Tombstone. The businesses were rebuilt with different appearances, but in their original locations and often bearing the original names. Those with name changes bear plaques as to the businesses they were in the 1800s. This view is down Allen Street. The red building on the right is the Crystal Palace. The building to the forefront of the picture on the right is The Oriental, where the Earps had a partial share in the gambling house profits.  The building on the left side of the street is now the Longhorn Restaurant, but has been occupied by several businesses.  It was under construction while the Earps were in town and is said to be the location of the building that Virgil Earp was shot from. The intersection in front of the Crystal Palace appears to be where scenes from the move Tombstone were filmed. In researching the filming location for the mission and train station scenes, I'm fairly sure they were filmed in an old movie studio called Old Tucson. Old Tucson is open for public tours and is located in the city of Tucson.

Big Nose Kate's Saloon was the original Grand Hotel where many famous people including the Earps and Doc Holiday stayed! The town fire destroyed the ornate bar that was originally on the first floor, but the downstairs bar survived the fire and was moved upstairs. This is the building that has a mine entrance right into the basement gift shop! The saloon owners encourage people to walk through and just browse!  

This is the original and notorious Bird Cage Theatre building!  The theater opened on December 25th, 1881 and by 1882 the New York Times was quoted as calling it "The wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast." The theater was a gambling parlor and brothel that operated from 1881 to 1889. During its 8 years of operation it was the location of 26 deaths! There are a reported 125 bullet holes still in the building!           

The Watt and Tarbell Undertakers building is an original. It is located close to the Birdcage Theater which sounds like a good location given the reputation of the Birdcage! I was told the building front is where the movie, Wyatt Earp, showed the wooden caskets leaning against it.  The building now has gunfight re-enactments held in it.

Here are some shady looking characters looking for a fight on the main street of Tombstone! The wide open spaces of southern Arizona and New Mexico provided a vast un-policed area in which stage robbers and cattle rustlers could operate unchecked. Ranchers on both sides of the United States and Mexican border were being targeted. In what appeared to be an organized effort, stolen beef would be sold and then find its way into Fort Huachuca and Tombstone butcher shops at greatly reduced prices. This method was used by the cowboys as a means of funding their wild and reckless lifestyles. Several crooked government officials appeared to be in cahoots with the lawless elements around Tombstone!

Here are the graves of the Clantons and McLaurys, who died in the O.K. Corral shootout. The graves are located in the Boothill Cemetary on the edge of Tombstone.

Here is a modern day Tombstone Marshal vehicle for going through desert terrain. The marshal told us that military vehicles that are no longer in use by the military are loaned to police departments, but must be returned to the military source once they are no longer in use by the police department. He stated that prior to getting this Humvee 3 regular trucks were broken from constant use in rough terrain. The Humvee's 4 wheels operate separately from one another and it's said that you can drive 100 miles on a flat tire! It looks like it could stand up to some gunfire in its border patrol duties, as well as, handle the rugged environment!

Tombstone Historic Home Tour

We arrived in Tombstone at 11:00 a.m. December 6th the day of Tombstone's First Annual Historic Home Tour. Having researched the area ahead of time I knew the event was taking place, but due to weather delaying our travels I thought we might miss attending. We pulled into Tombstone Territories R.V. Park, did a quick tour of the park facilities, set-up the camper, and were touring homes by 1:00! I'm so glad we made it! Roy and I have enjoyed Christmas home tours almost yearly for several years and I must say this one was the very best! If you are anywhere in the vicinity when it is scheduled, I highly recommend going out of your way to attend. The home pictured on the event booklet is called the Rose Cottage (c.1879). It is so named for the 70 rose plants in the gardens! It alone was worth the price of the tour! It is absolutely gorgeous inside and out! The Rose Cottage is known to be the oldest adobe residence in Tombstone! It was originally only two room house consisting of a bedroom and parlor.  The rooms were adjoined, but had their own exterior doorways. They did not share an interior door! It was said to be bad etiquette for visitors to be able to see into the bedroom!  

This woman and her husband are the owners of the Rose Cottage. Each room of the homes had people in period dress telling the history of the room! Pictures were allowed outside, but not inside. There was a professional photographer on the tour at the same time we were and I was later able to get pictures from the Internet! This is the parlor. I love pink and burgundy together!!!

The bedroom now has an interior door connecting it to the parlor!

This is the dining room off the kitchen. The home appeared to have 6 rooms now with one of the rooms being a masculine den.

This is the greeter for a home being referred to as the "Little Old New House"!

The Little Old New House was built in 1998 to replicate an 1898 home. The owners had collected antiques for over 40 years and the Little Old New House was the culmination of their dream! That's Roy and me on the porch! I got a surprise when searching for pictures of the tour and found we made it onto the Tombstone Times Facebook page! The spire in the background is the historic Cochise County Courthouse!

This is the owner of the Little Old New House.

Here is a more expansive view of the Little Old New Home's parlor. The home appeared to be 4-5 rooms.  

This is the 1882 home of the famous Cochise County sheriff, John Slaughter. who lived from 1841-1922. John Slaughter is credited with cleaning up the lawlessness in the Arizona Territory and thereby encouraging apprehensive Congressmen to vote for its admission into the Union. It was originally a 4 room home, but now has 6 with the addition of modern plumbing. The young owner of the home has had it for just over a year, but has dreamed of owning it for 20 years! She now dreams of detailing it with historic accuracy!

This is the parlor of the John Slaughter residence. The carpet will be stripped away and the wood floors restored once the owner finds rugs appropriate to the history of the home.

For many years this house has had the reputation of being Wyatt Earp's house.  It was reported in the newspaper, The Tombstone Epitaph on October 23, 1880:  "The Messr. Earp are erecting on their property at the foot of Fremont Street a number of frame dwelling houses.  Four have been completed and a fifth is under way."  The Tombstone lots are 30'x120'.  The houses were 15'x30' and only had two rooms.  There were no kitchens, bathrooms, or built-in closets. It was stated on the tour that houses tended not to have built-in closets, as they were considered additional rooms for tax purposes! According to Allie Earp's recollection, "Our house was on the Southwest corner of First and Fremont. Wyatt and Mattie lived on the Northeast corner."

This is the bedroom in the Wyatt Earp house. 

This home is called the My Darling Clementine House.  It wasn't stated why it was given this name, but I later read where the movie "My Darling Clementine" was filmed in Tombstone in 1946.  I wonder if this house was a filming location?  The house was built in the 1880s and is said to be the first place Wyatt, James, Virgil Earp and their wives lived upon arriving in Tombstone. James Earp gave the house to his step daughter Hattie and her new husband, Thaddeus Harris upon their wedding.

This is the dining room in the Clementine home.

This bedroom in the Clementine home is referred to as Doc Holliday's room.

This home is referred to as North Pole South, as it is Christmas at this residence 365 days a year! The interior of the home carries the Christmas theme throughout. The interior of the home had a rustic, but elegant charm that made the home feel to me like a log cabin lodge! The owners truly captured the feel of a home you would expect Santa Clause to live in while at North Pole South!  

This is Tibbs Manor. It is a late territorial adobe built around 1897. The most famous occupant was James Giacoma who lived in this home from 1913 to 1968. He was the owner of the Crystal Theater and he co-owned the Defiance Mine in Gleeson. The wall surrounding the property was built from turquoise and quartz stones James Giacoma brought from the Defiance Mine 16 miles away.

This is the current owner of the home along with her husband shown on the porch in the previous picture.

Here is a glimpse down the main hallway of Tibbs Manor.

Here is another look into Tibbs Manor and some of the participants in the First Annual Tombstone Historic Homes Tour! We'll definitely try to catch it every year that we can!  The homes and presentations were magnificent!  Kudo's to the Tombstone Cameo Ladies who hosted the event!

Tombstone Territories R.V. Resort

We left Camp Verde on December 5th after a couple days delay due to heavy overcast, rain, and fog. We were only 30-40 miles outside of Camp Verde when the landscape turned to Saguaro Cacti everywhere!  Wow! We arrived at Tombstone Territories R.V. Resort on December 6th.  It is located 8 miles east on Highway 82 out in the desert!  This area is different for sightseeing than other areas we've been in, as the tourist attractions are spread out several miles in every direction. Note on the map the outlying communities.  Using Sierra Vista as a central hub, Benson is 35 miles north, Tucson is 75 miles northwest, Nogales is 63 miles southwest, Bisbee is 24 miles southeast,  Douglas is 50 miles southeast and Tombstone is about 10 miles east! It's taking a bit more planning to tour economically here!

This is our little homestead at the corner of Wyatt Way and Holliday Street!

This is the view out our door. The lot to the right side of the picture with the red chair is ours. So much for the myth that you need reservations to get into an Arizona r.v. park during the peak Winter months. This wonderful park is nearly empty! We personally love not having neighbors nearby!

This is the view in back of the camper. The building is the rec. hall. It has every amenity you could want! There are several activities, but my favorite is the Friday, Saturday, Sunday homemade sweets made available for ones munching pleasure!  We had an excellent potluck brunch and dinner Christmas day! A New Years sock hop is planned!

This is the view out the side picture window.

The view out the front window is of the laundry building.  I chose our location in part due to its close proximity.  I love that the park provides a clothes line, too!

Here is our lot.  It is almost like we have our own little island!

To the front of the rec. hall is a wonderfully large play yard for the dogs. It's a comfortable distance from our location.

To the back of the r.v. park are some ATV trails. The dogs love them for a straight out fast run!

This is another trail coming off the same back corner. I'm told that these trails create a square of trails approximately 3 miles in length. We plan to stay in this park at least until January 6th, but possibly another month.  We are researching parks closer to Sierra Vista, Benson, and Tucson with the idea of relocating closer to places and things we'd like to visit.