Boothill Grave Yard, Tombstone and Bisbee Arizona

Boothill Grave Yard, Tombstone and Bisbee Arizona

Boothill Graveyard is a real graveyard, putting to rest some old west rumors that have traveled throughout the southwest for many years.  It is located today in its original location.  Boothill was founded in 1878 on a slight hill just north west of Tombstone, Arizona. This historical cemetery was the burial ground for all of Tombstones earliest pioneers.

The name Boothill comes from the fact that many of these graves were filled with people that died suddenly or violently with their boots on! Some two hundred fifty known people were buried in Boothill, before it officially closed its doors in 1884.   Like Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury  killed at the OK Corral battle. 

 

For many years this famous graveyard sat dormant, falling victim to the many elements. The original wooden grave markers were badly decomposed and unreadable in modern times. Reality is some of the graves could be off a couple of feet, one way or the other, but most are quite close to their exact location. Over the years, Boothill has been extensively studied. The graves not already marked with a headstone, have been remarked close to their original locations, using city records and charts.

Today, many graves still read “unknown” because in the early days people didn’t carry any type of identification. If a person was found dead it was customary for the undertaker to display the dead person on a cooling slab in his parlor window.  This would give the town’s people walking passed the window an opportunity to identify the unknown person.  Sadly, many were never identified by town’s people or by family or friends.  If identified at all many people were only identified by their nicknames.

 

 

Years of research and hard work by interested citizens from the town have helped to preserve the main part of the cemetery as it is seen today.

 

Tombstone

Step back in time and enjoy the old west atmosphere of the “Town Too Tough to Die!” Tombstone, Arizona.

Walk the very same streets where Wyatt Earp and his brothers enjoyed the company of the likes of Doc Holliday! Stand where the legendary stories of the past actually occurred and encapsulate you in the authentic Wild West!

Today Tombstone offers a glimpse into the past with historic attractions such as museums, history tours on foot, by stagecoach or trolley, underground mine experiences, paranormal adventures, shopping, dining and of course gunfight reenactments!

Tombstone creates images of gunfights and dusty streets, whiskey and Faro games, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and a plethora of old western movie scenes. But what many folks don't realize is that Tombstone is a living town with real inhabitants who have lived here throughout its history and still do today. That is part of the reason Tombstone has been called "The Town Too Tough to Die"

 

 

The Bird Cage Theatre is another story. It was a saloon, theater, gambling hall and brothel. Legend has it that no self-respecting woman in town would even walk on the same side of the street as the Bird Cage Theatre. It opened its doors on Christmas Day 1881 and ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year until closing its doors in 1889. In 1882, The New York Times reported, "the Bird Cage Theatre is the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast." Evidence of this can still be seen in the 140 supposed bullet holes that have been found in the walls and ceiling. The Bird Cage was named for the cage style crib compartments suspended from the ceiling. It was in these "Bird Cages" that the "ladies of the evening" entertained their customers. The story goes that they were the inspiration for the song, "She's only a bird in a gilded cage", which was quite popular during the early 1900's.

 

 

Bisbee, Arizona

Bisbee was founded as a copper, gold, and silver mining town in 1880, and named in honor of Judge DeWitt Bisbee, one of the financial backers of the adjacent Copper Queen Mine.

A high quality turquoise promoted as Bisbee Blue was a by-product of the copper mining. Many high-quality mineral specimens have come from Bisbee area mines and are to be found in museum collections worldwide. Some of these minerals include cuprite, aragonite, wulfenite, malachite, azurite, and galena.

Classic azurite mineral specimen from

the Bisbee mines, collected circa 1890.

Today, the historic city of Bisbee is known as "Old Bisbee" and is home to a thriving downtown cultural scene. This area is noted for its architecture, including Victorian-style houses and an elegant Art Deco county courthouse. Because its plan was laid out to a pedestrian scale before the automobile, Old Bisbee is compact and walkable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More coming soon 😊
Jan 🌷🌷🐾🐾