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If you’ve never heard of Tombstone then I suggest you catch up…
I’ve been watching westerns since I was knee high to a grasshopper, when I was 10 they released a film of the same name about Wyatt Earp and his befuddled retirement plans. It is featured on The Exhibition List because as well as being a town it is effectively a living museum.
Here’s me on Allen Street, the main road through the town where population grew from 100 to around 14,000 in less than 7 years. Today the population stands at around 1,400. From about 1877 to 1890, the town’s mines produced USD $40 to $85 million in silver bullion, the largest productive silver district in Arizona.
The Courthouse there is now a museum where you can walk round and learn a lot about the people and the history.
If you decide this town is simply too tough for you can always rely on the Tombstone Undertakers for a good deal..
The Birdcage Theatre is certainly one of the highlights, it was was a combination of theatre, saloon and gambling parlor and of course, a brothel that operated from 1881 to 1889.
It 1882 The New York Times reported that “the Bird Cage Theatre is the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin St and the Barbary Coast“. More than 120 bullet holes are evident throughout the building.
Although you are not allowed on the stage and I never usually break the rules, this was an opportunity I could not resist… (sorry)
The basement poker room is said to be the site of the longest-running poker game in history. Played continuously twenty-four hours a day for eight years, five months, and three days, legend has it that as much as $10,000,000 changed hands during the marathon game, with the house retaining 10 percent. Some of the participants were Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Diamond Jim Brady, and George Hearst. When ground water began seeping into the mines in the late 1880s the town went bust, the Bird Cage Theatre along with it. The poker game ended and the building was sealed up in 1889.
The building was not opened again until it was purchased in 1934, and the new owners were delighted to find that almost nothing had been disturbed in all those years. It has been a tourist attraction ever since. You are unlikely to see anything quite like this anywhere in the world…
You can find them buried at the Boothill Cemetery where the sign on the door reads ‘No guns please, we’re full.
Location: Tombstone, Arizona
Entry Fee: Its free to walk around. everything else is worth every $