Tombstone is a tourist town, and it knows it — but underneath the gunfight reenactments and the souvenir shops, there's a genuine piece of American history that's worth taking seriously.
The Town Too Tough to Die
Tombstone's nickname — 'The Town Too Tough to Die' — was earned honestly. Founded in 1879 after silver was discovered in the surrounding hills, it grew into one of the most notorious boomtowns in the American West, home to gamblers, miners, lawmen, and outlaws in roughly equal measure. The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881 made it famous; the decline of the silver mines nearly killed it. Today it survives on tourism, which it has turned into something of an art form.
"The bullet holes in the walls are real. The original fixtures are largely intact. It's one of the best small museums in the Southwest."
The Bird Cage Theatre
The Bird Cage Theatre is the most authentic piece of Tombstone's history that survives. Open from 1881 to 1889, it operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as a saloon, gambling hall, and theater. The bullet holes in the walls are real. The original fixtures are largely intact. The docents — including Burt Webster, a remarkable local historian — know the history in extraordinary detail and tell it without the sanitizing that often accompanies tourist-facing history. It's one of the best small museums in the Southwest.
The Tombstone Epitaph
The Tombstone Epitaph is one of the oldest continuously published newspapers in Arizona, founded in 1880. Its archives are a primary source for the history of the town and the surrounding region, and the paper is still published today. Visiting the Epitaph office is a reminder that behind the gunfight mythology, Tombstone was a real community with real institutions — a newspaper, a courthouse, churches, schools — that tried to impose order on a genuinely chaotic place.
Worth the Visit
Tombstone is unabashedly commercial, and some of the tourist attractions are exactly as cheesy as you'd expect. But the history underneath the performance is real and fascinating, and the people who know it best — the historians, the docents, the locals who've spent their lives studying it — are worth seeking out. Go with low expectations for the gunfight reenactments and high expectations for the Bird Cage Theatre. You won't be disappointed.
