Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Tombstone AZ visiting?

When I was there about 12 years ago, the food in Big Nose Kate’s saloon was actually pretty good.
The old court house museum was well worth the visit.
The part of Tombstone that I thought was the best exhibit was the Birdcage Saloon.
The mine tour was interesting too.
Like others said, once was enough to visit Tombstone.
I’m glad I went, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back.

We were there in November of 2020 in the morning and nothing was open. There were some interesting shops but we had a lot of miles to go that day so we did stick around for them to open.

I was there about 10 years ago......Very interesting place....Loved it...Really enjoyed Boothill Graveyard,....Drank a few at the Crystal palace and ate supper at the OK cafe...spent the night at the sagebrush I believe....Would love to go back for a couple days

Having been raised there ( born in Douglas, hospital was closed) I grew up thinking it was just another tourist trap. Age has tempered my opinion. There is some really interesting history here. My parents and both their mothers were born here. Before statehood.
The courthouse is great if you’ve got a little time to do some reading. Boot Hill cemetery is worth a visit. Schefflin hall is the largest adobe building in the west. To me the real gem in Tombstone is the Bird Cage Theatre. It’s one of the few original buildings that didn’t burn in the fires that consumed most old wooden towns. It was legitimate theatre upstairs and a bordello downstairs. 44 bullet holes still adorn the ceiling that excited patrons shot offf during performances. A box seat on the balcony that was about 6x8 feet cost $400 a night in 1880. It also boasts the longest running record holding poker game that went on several years with a $1000 buy in. There is a horse drawn hearse in there that has sterling silver adornments and curved glass. The owner has refused a million dollar for it as it’s the last one left.
My great grand father was an underground timber man in 1880 and he saw Wyatt Earp stand off the mob when they were going to break Johnny Behind the Deuce out of jail and lynch him. The story he told my dad about that was almost identical tho the way it was portrayed in the movie Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner.
There are some decent restaurants and western stores that have very fair prices.

Thanks, Fred

Fred pretty much nailed it. I too am 3rd generation Arizonan, my kin was in Benson and Fairbanks area, very close to Tombstone . I live 20 miles southeast of Tombstone just east a dozen miles from Fred's place.
Tombstone is certainly worth a visit if you're in the area, like many all ready mentioned, ignore the tourist trap aspect and focus on the history which it has a lot of.
Food is reasonable, no place I can think of is over priced, all in all, worth a look see.

The Xavier deal Bac mission a bit north is also worth a stop and look around.

Alot of history there. The Birdcage Theater is worth the trip itself, IMHO. It actually opened acouple of months after the gunfight at the OK corral, or the shootout by Fly's boarding house. However you want to put it. Here is a plaque outside the Oriental saloon, another shooting in Tombstone that didn't get the press that the other gunfight had. If you want alittle history on Tombstone. True West magazine has all the major gunfights in Tombstone covered in Classic Gunfights Vol 2.