Tombstone
2 / 3
Tombstone, Arizona — one of the most infamous Wild West boomtowns — didn’t waste any time pulling us into the action. Within minutes of arriving, we were swept into a saloon for a gunfight reenactment based on a series of actual historical shootouts. Bad tempers, loud gunshots, and folks hitting the floor — for the last time.
1 / 21
Just up the street was the legendary OK Corral shootout reenactment, featuring the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Clanton-McLaury gang. Fun fact: the real gunfight didn’t happen in the OK Corral, it went down in a vacant lot nearby. But let’s be honest, “Gunfight at the Empty Lot” doesn’t have the same ring to it.
The shootout lasted just 30 seconds, with 30 rounds fired. When the smoke cleared, the McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton were dead, and the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday walked away—though Morgan Earp was soon after shot while playing pool. Ike Clanton, who helped stir the pot, ran off and lived to cause more trouble.
The entire town was split over who was to blame. Wyatt Earp, a lawman, had deputized his brothers and Doc Holliday to confront a gang of known cow thieves. The Tombstone Epitaph backed the lawmen, while the Tombstone Nugget supported the Cowboys. Two newspapers, two different versions of the "truth", and a divided populace — sound familiar?
You’d think Tombstone got its name from all the folks getting shot in a lawless town, but actually it came from prospector Ed Schieffelin. When he set out into Apache territory looking for silver, US soldiers stationed nearby warned him the only thing he’d find was his tombstone. Instead, he struck silver and named his claim Tombstone. The town that followed kept the name.
We strolled the dusty streets past old buildings turned saloons and souvenir shops, including Big Nose Kate’s, named after Wyatt Earp’s girlfriend, a saloon girl and “soiled dove” (aka prostitute) who could hold her own. The saloon leans into its wild past with swinging doors, old-timey decor, and live music. It also has a tasty Prickly Pear Margarita.
We wrapped up at Boothill Graveyard, where the tombstones skip the RIP pleasantries. One called out the person's murderer by name, another marked a not so cute mistaken hanging with a cutesy rhyme.
It’s gritty, theatrical, and fun to walk through history that refuses to be forgotten.
The shootout lasted just 30 seconds, with 30 rounds fired. When the smoke cleared, the McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton were dead, and the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday walked away—though Morgan Earp was soon after shot while playing pool. Ike Clanton, who helped stir the pot, ran off and lived to cause more trouble.
The entire town was split over who was to blame. Wyatt Earp, a lawman, had deputized his brothers and Doc Holliday to confront a gang of known cow thieves. The Tombstone Epitaph backed the lawmen, while the Tombstone Nugget supported the Cowboys. Two newspapers, two different versions of the "truth", and a divided populace — sound familiar?
You’d think Tombstone got its name from all the folks getting shot in a lawless town, but actually it came from prospector Ed Schieffelin. When he set out into Apache territory looking for silver, US soldiers stationed nearby warned him the only thing he’d find was his tombstone. Instead, he struck silver and named his claim Tombstone. The town that followed kept the name.
We strolled the dusty streets past old buildings turned saloons and souvenir shops, including Big Nose Kate’s, named after Wyatt Earp’s girlfriend, a saloon girl and “soiled dove” (aka prostitute) who could hold her own. The saloon leans into its wild past with swinging doors, old-timey decor, and live music. It also has a tasty Prickly Pear Margarita.
We wrapped up at Boothill Graveyard, where the tombstones skip the RIP pleasantries. One called out the person's murderer by name, another marked a not so cute mistaken hanging with a cutesy rhyme.
It’s gritty, theatrical, and fun to walk through history that refuses to be forgotten.