Tombstone Arizona
Just a short drive from where were are staying, is Tombstone, Arizona. Tombstone was the subject of a 1993 Western starring Kurt Russel and Val Kilmer. It was also the setting for a TV show in the late 1950’s
Tombstone is definitely a step back into the history of the Wild West. There’s lots to see here in this little town from a graveyard to stage coaches and even a gunfight reenactment. Be forewarned though it’s a money grab everything you might want to see will cost something. So you might want to do your homework before you go and decide what you really want to see.
Main Street
Boothill Graveyard
Our first stop was the Boothill Graveyard. Boothill was a common name for graveyards back on the old west. Referring to the fact that many of their occupants had died with their boots on! Boothill in Tombstone was started as a burial ground in 1878 and served as cemetery for the next 6 years. For years the cemetery had been neglected and reclaimed by nature. However, concerned citizens researched and restored it to its present condition.
The tour of Boothill is self-guided. Your $3 entrance fee gives you a brochure describing to 250 graves in the graveyard. The lady at the counter said that would be the cheapest ticket of the day. She was right. Many of the grave markers describe the person’s cause of death, most were some violent cause… hanging, shot, stabbed, suicide, etc.
Most of the graves have wooden markers and rock piles.
Tom Waters shot over the color of his shirt
The Halderman brothers hanged in 1900
John Gillespie was one of the officers sent to arrest Billy Grounds and Zwing Hunt. He was shot in the head by Hunt and died instantly. Arizona law enforcement pay tribute by leaving dollars on his grave and a memorial wreath.
Marshall White was accidentally shot by Curly Bill. Arizona law enforcement also pay tribute to his grave.
Here lies Lester Moore
Four slugs from a .44
No Les no more
Moore was a Wells Fargo agent who was killed in a dispute with a customer over a package
George Johnson bought a stolen horse and was hung by mistake
Taken from county jail by a Bisbee lynch mob and was hanged from a telegraph pole.
The Clanton gang killed at the shootout at OK corral.
The Bird Cage Theatre
The Bird Cage is the oldest original building in town. In the boom days of the town it served as a theatre, saloon, brothel, and gambling hall. They offer a self-guided tour here. If you like that sort of thing there are tons of cool artifacts to see. They allow photos on the tour, but explicitly forbid you from posting those photos on line. Boo hiss! So I’m sorry you won’t be seeing any of inside the Bird Cage tour photos here and for that reason I’ll say that it wasn’t worth the price of admission.
Outside the Bird Cage
The bar inside the Bird Cage Saloon still has a bullet hole
Fatima portrait in the saloon. That's a bullet hole above her left arm
The Human Fly - poster in the saloon
The Stage Coach Tour
This was definitely cool. It was a guided tour in an old horse driven stage coach down Main Street on down some of the backstreets in town. The driver pointed out many historical businesses and homes along the way. It gives you an appreciation for what it might have been like to travel across the country in a coach.
Our coach awaits
The coach and driver
The horses
Our view from inside the coach
The coach rolling along the street
Beers at Big Nose Kate’s
This is a restored and modernized saloon. It was a nice place to stop and enjoy a cold beer.
The bar inside Kate's
Kate's Tequila Bar
Shoot out at the OK Corral
This is a staged reenactment of the historic shootout between the Earp brothers with Doc Holiday and a group of cowboy outlaws known as the Clanton Gang. This was enjoyable to watch and worth the admission.
The Earps gather in the street outside of the OK Corral.
Some mouthing between the Earps and Clantons
The gun fight ensues
Shots fired
The Clanton gang lays dead
So that was enough history for our day. We left plenty there for another day.
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Enjoy!
Roger
Wow this is so cool Roger! Brian and I have always wanted to go there, but the opportunity never came up! We've watched Wild Earp about a million times I think haha
As an aside, I've been trying to figure out the "enlarge photo" thing and am having a heck of a time! Not sure why, but when I copy my photo from the 'second' tab, it doesn't seem to be working. Any tricks for me?
Thanks!
and congratulations on being featured in @steemitworldmap's Travel Digest :) Yowza!!
Thank you Lynn! Let me try and explain the enlarge photo function without it getting too messed up by the Steemit markup. I had the same problem copying the link in the tutorial. Here's the code that you need to enter right after the code for your image:
LTa href="YOUR WORKING URL HERE" rel="noopener"GT[Click here to enlarge photo]LT/aGT
Just replace the LT with < and the GT with > and paste in your live URL between the quotes.
I hope that makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you so so much!! I figured it all out and used it on my latest post!! It makes such a difference right??!
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=rwedegis
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=tombstone-arizona
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I would love go some place like this!! such an inspiration for good photos! AMAZING
Thank you for your comments!
Enjoyed reading your post @rwedegis.. It's kinda funny and creepy at the same time how they marked the graves like how George Johnson was hung by mistake, poor guy.. And love the bars. Your pictures are really like those you see in cowboy movies..
Thank you for your comments @madsquash! Death was definitely taken more lightly in those days!
Hiya, just swinging by to let you know you're being featured in today's Travel Digest!
Thank you very much!
I must say the writings on the tombstone are cheering up the whole place. But it's also pretty weird to read how all of these people died.
Looks like an interesting place seen from a historical perspective. Too bad they (try to) charge money for literally anything.
Thank you for your comments! It really gives you a sense for how really wild the wild west was!
Congratulations @rwedegis!
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Thank you very much!
That looks like a ton of fun. Always wanted to visit Tombstone. Thanks for sharing your adventure. Great photo's too. :)
Thank you for your comments! I hope you can make it there some day!