Tombstone, Arizona has a very colorful past, rich in the facts and mythology of America’s Wild West. It was in this town that Sheriff Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and Doc Holiday engaged in the “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” wherein these “lawmen” killed three and wounded another three. The town was a silver mining boom town at the time and when the silver vein was exhausted a few years later, Tombstone was all but abandoned. What remains today is a small, fairly well-preserved and authentic wild west town.
One of the most popular tourist stops on a visit to Tombstone is it’s cemetery, known as BootHill. There are over 250 graves here, many well known for their colorful epitaphs, like the one you see for Lester Moore above. The cemetery also holds the remains of Billy Clanton, Frank and Tom McLaury, killed by the Earp Brothers at the O.K. Corral shootout.
Ah great memories Dr. F! We had the pleasure of strolling round Boot Hill and then shaking hands with both Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp themselves! (Well, they were the real one’s weren’t they?).
The tomb stones, or grave markers, in Boot Hill make great reading. Quite a number referring to folks being “legally hanged” (did that make any difference to the end result?). I particularly liked the tomb ‘stone’ (board) saying: “Here lies George Johnson, hanged by mistake 1882. He was right, we was wrong, but we strung him up and now he’s gone”.
If you have time after a visit to Tombstone, swing by the old mining town of Bisbee with it’s beautiful old houses and a massive open-cast copper mine (now closed).
I never did shake hands with Doc Holiday or Wyatt Earp, Mac, and since Doc Holiday probably died of “consumption” (tuberculosis), hope you were wearing a mask and washed your hands after you did.
Good point about Bisbee — a great small historic town with a grand old hotel, the Copper Queen. The scale of the open pit mine is hard to fathom, but worth a look.
If you’re staying in Tucson, both Tombstone and Bisbee can be combined into a day trip from there.
Hum, I thought that poor old Doc Holiday didn’t look too good when I was there…. Oh well