It turns out the Old West didn’t blow away with the tumbleweed. Although ghost towns and country horse rides picket the American southwest, a few true historic Western towns remain preserved and ready to be rediscovered by the intrepid, far-stepping Bruin. Full of colorful characters and living history, the silver mining town of Tombstone, Arizona, invites you to explore the grounds of one of the most mythologized stories in the West.
The reenactments don't stop at the gunfights in Tombstone. Stagecoach guided tours are available for all and any curious visitors. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Born in a town not so far away, W.D. "Arizona" Kennedy often can be found playing a track of original and classic Western tunes at a Tombstone street corner. Search for him playing in town on Google Maps street view to see how long he's been playing here. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife. Photo credit: Finn Martin
An hourlong drive southeast from Tucson, Arizona, along the United States’ southmost highway, the Interstate 10, the town of Tombstone requires some effort to reach, but the trek is worth it. Book a stay across the street from the action at the Tombstone Motel, a rustic quarters which will have you sleeping next to pistol lamps and beneath poker table ceiling lights (watch out for Geronimo in the bathroom – more on him later). If you spot a framed photo of a dapper man with a handlebar mustache, you’d be justified in mistaking him for Val Kilmer. While the gentleman in question may look like the star of the 1993 hit movie “Tombstone,” you’re actually seeing the real Doc Holliday, a bronze pistol-toting hero of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
These gunfighters won't fire on you, but they'll certainly act the outlaw. Reenactors can be found walking all over the town of Tombstone. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife. Photo credit: Finn Martin
Book a ride on a stagecoach guided tour at any of these street boxes. The ride will take you through the town's dirt roads and back into its past. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
While Tombstone got its name from a witty warning told to a prospector, the town’s popularity today owes a heavy debt to this legendary gunfight, a shooting skirmish sparked by months of greed and threats that would never have happened had a man named Ed Schieffelin turned tail. In 1877. Schieffelin, a silver prospector on the hunt, set out to make a claim in the desert hills of the San Pedro Valley. Soldiers stationed nearby and on the watch for a ruthless Apache warrior named Geronimo (I promised we’d circle back) warned Schieffelin that he would only find his tombstone there. But instead of a grave, Schieffelin’s shovel struck silver – a vein that in sum produced a total of 32 million troy ounces of silver, the equivalent to roughly $2.3 billion today! This kind of cash was bound to bring trouble, and it did when crime and law collided only four years later. A band of cowboys hustling stagecoaches en route to town found themselves face to face with Marshal Virgil Earp, his deputized brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and the dentist, gambler and gunfighter Doc Holliday. The men met in a lot behind Tombstone’s O.K. Corral: 30 seconds and 30 shots later, the cowboys lay dead and the law victorious.
Reenactors play out the town's historical gunfight in the original O.K. Corral lot. Live blanks are fired to give the reenactments a more authentic feel. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife. Photo credit: Finn Martin
Here stands an actor portraying Doc Holliday at the gunfight's end. Reenactments can be caught frequently throughout the day. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife. Photo credit: Finn Martin
The silver vein may have died, but the town of Tombstone continues to mine the story. Reenactments of the shoot-outs can be found in treble each day with no shortage of companies to watch. Two troops of reenactors stood out the most to me. There is no better place to start than a trip to the site of the O.K. Corral itself – for six dollars entry, you can watch a 30-minute resurrection of the gunfight in the place where it really happened (plus, you will be treated to actual historical artifacts you can’t see elsewhere). If this acting leaves you wanting, check out the gunfights at the Old Tombstone Western Theme Park. The Old Tombstone Western Theme Park is comparable in price and time but offers a more comedic routine that seeks to invent new stories rather than retell the more well-known shoot-out. Spending your money there, additionally, can leave you gratified from more than just the show, as the acting troupe chiefly employs military veterans.
Reenactors pose poised for the gunfight soon to come. In frontier towns flooded with mineral wealth, skirmishes between law and wild outlaws were only due course. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
The Old Tombstone Western Theme Park offers several gunfight reenactments by an award winning acting troop. Many of these actors are U.S. military veterans. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife. Photo credit: Finn Martin
If you survive the gunfights without taking a slug, follow the gunfight’s procession by visiting the nearby Boothill Graveyard. Buried inside this 1878 cemetery are the cowboys from the O.K. Corral shooting as well as other notable figures. The tombstones show the changing history of Tombstone as waves of Civil War veterans, freedmen and immigrants passed through the town. Try to stroll through these grounds before dusk to catch a gorgeous sunset in the nearby Dragoon Mountains.
Having unknowingly bought a stolen horse, George Johnson was hanged on the lethal charge of horse theft. Only after did the town realize its mistake, for which they've exonerated him in his tombstone. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife. Photo credit: Finn Martin
Here lies the Kansas Kid, a cowboy trampled by a stampede. Boot Hill Graveyard is site to simple graves and violent deaths. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife. Photo credit: Finn Martin
Feeling parched and dusty after a day in the desert? Take rest at the Crystal Palace Saloon. Surprisingly, this is the only place in all of Tombstone where you can watch the movie “Tombstone” (which is played throughout the day on loop over the bar counter). Most everything in this town comes chicken-fried with a side of beans, but this landmark establishment also offers up a mighty New York steak, a series of classic Southern dishes and Americana selects such as burgers and pizza. One unique quirk about the restaurants in Tombstone is that they all serve up a soda that they like to dub, of course, the Doc Holliday – a more cherry-flavored Dr. Pepper.
Donnie Estrado and Lexi Chavez of the Crystal Palace Saloon serve up lunch and dinners in this period piece establishment. Enjoy a chicken fried dinner and a Doc Holliday soda here while watching the 1993 movie Tombstone. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife. Photo credit: Finn Martin
History buffs, Old Western fans and students searching for adventure beyond the borders of California will all enjoy a visit to the town of Tombstone – a perfect journey for a long weekend. So grab some friends, find a time and make the journey to this landmark spot that symbolizes the historical expansion into the West!
