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Tombstone
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Perhaps the most famous town in the Wild West,
TOMBSTONE
lies 22 miles south of I-10 on US-80, 67 miles southeast of Tucson. More than a century has passed since its mining days came to an end, but "The Town Too Tough to Die" clings to an afterlife as a tourist theme park. With its dusty streets, wooden sidewalks and swinging saloon doors, it's surprisingly unchanged. Most adults, however, have seen too many inauthentic replicas and movie re-creations for the real thing to retain much appeal, and so Tombstone is reduced to trying to divert kids with tacky dioramas and daily shoot-outs. The best time to visit is during
Helldorado Days
in late October, when the air is cooler and the sun less harsh, but the streets are full of gun-toting strangers acting out gun battles and stagecoach robberies.
Tombstone only began life as a silver-boomtown in 1877, and by the end of the 1880s it was all but deserted again. However, on the day that gave it the notoriety that's kept it alive, its population stood at more than ten thousand. It was 2pm on October 26, 1881, when Doc Holliday , along with Wyatt Earp and his brothers Virgil and Morgan (who all served as local sheriffs), confronted a band of suspected cattle rustlers, the Clantons, in the legendary Gunfight at the OK Corral . Within a few minutes, three of the suspects were dead. The Earps were accused of murder, but charges were eventually dropped. Although the gunfight in fact took place on Fremont Street, the OK Corral itself remains the major attraction for visitors (daily 8.30am-5pm; $2.50), despite the fact that it holds little more than crude dummies that show the supposed locations of the Earps and the Clantons, in complete contradiction to contemporary reports of the fight. A couple of blocks along Allen Street, the Bird Cage Theater (daily 8am-6pm; $5) was Tombstone's leading venue for entertainment of all kinds. Seven "bird cages," much like theater boxes but curtained off and said to have been used by prostitutes, hang from either side of the main hall. The dusty, cluttered theater now holds a motley collection of curiosities, including a revolting foot-long "merman" from China, while downstairs you can see the old gaming tables and bordello rooms. The exhibits are real enough, but there's little historical accuracy to many of the makeshift signs. You might want to skip it entirely in favor of Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park on Toughnut and Third streets, just off the main drag (daily 8am-5pm; $2.50). This one-time seat of Cochise County features the little-changed courtroom where several well-known trials took place. Excellent exhibits include two detailed alternative versions of what might have actually happened at the OK Corral.
Central
motels
include the
Adobe Lodge
, 505 Fremont St (tel 520/457-2241 or 1-888/457-2241; $50-75), while the classier mountain-view
Best Western Lookout Lodge
is a mile north on US-80 W (tel 520/457-2223 or 1-800/652-6772; $50-75/$75-100), just across from the Boot Hill Graveyard. Among old-style
saloons
serving burgers and beer in as raucous an atmosphere as they can are the
Crystal Palace
at Fifth and Allen, and
Big Nose Kate's
at 417 E Allen St, where you can still join an ongoing card game. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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United States,
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