If you’ve never been to Tombstone, Arizona, it is worth the trip, particularly if you, like me, grew up on a good ration of cowboy TV shows with gunslingers and bandits, gamblers, and heroes like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. Personally, I am not usually interested in shopping, I’d rather look at the history and what remains of the town. However, in Tombstone, you can find whatever floats your boat.
From Saloons and Gambling Halls to Theaters and Brothels
Tombstone is loaded with historical and shopping opportunities. Walk through the old town and you will quickly get a good flavor of the wild West way of living back in the 1800s. There are many original buildings, a variety of tours, as well as shops for everything western you might want to purchase.
There are several people in period dress that hawk their wares or announce upcoming tours and events, such as The Bird Cage Theater (opened 1881), one of the local mines, and the Tombstone Court House.
There are also staged gunfights in the streets. Amazingly, along the boardwalk of one of the saloons the town lists the demise of many real-life gunfighters.
I stopped by the Epitaph Newspaper museum, which includes a lot of historical printing equipment and photos. The docent there provided interesting history about the paper and times. The Epitaph is the longest running newspaper in Arizona (they still publish a newspaper once a month to which you can subscribe to read historical accounts of one of the West’s wildest mining towns).
Stop by and experience some history of what the West was like over a century ago and send us your thoughts about this historical town. Or, tell us what’s your favorite Western factoid, or who you would’ve loved to meet and why?