Tombstone, Arizona, Is Irresistible Attraction
The Town Billed as Too Tough to Die is Exactly That
Mar 30, 2009
Tombstone, Arizona, is a town that must be seen to be believed. Rich in western historic lore, its appeal is irresistible and its character undeniable. Thousands of people flock to this western enclave to see, once again, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday prevail.
Tombstone is a Legend
The town itself has become a legend, and the many famous (and infamous) cowboys who passed through this Arizona territory have all contributed to its oft repeated and enacted history.
Originally started during the silver rush of 1877, Tombstone epitomizes all that was wicked, and appealing, about the old West. Miners and wild cowboys from across the West poured into this town. While never as notorious as Dodge City, El Paso, Las Vegas (Nevada) and other locales in the New Mexico territory, Tombstone became a legendary triumph with the arrival (and Hollywood-ization) of the Earp brothers and Doc Holiday.
Its Main Street is still bustling with stage coaches, cowboys and dance hall girls. Shoot outs are common, and Boot Hill is filled to capacity.
Tombstone's Famous Inhabitants
Besides the dramatic, entertaining and colorful characters parading down main street, there are other attractions that are intriguing.
Only a short distance from the main street of town is the famous Boothill cemetery, the most popular cemetary in the United States, containing the corpses of a litany of bad hombres. Some were buried with their boots off (sleeping); others were buried with their boots on (shot). The headstones are inscribed with the names of some of the most famous outlaws in American history and one cannot help but be fascinated. The epitaphs, often humorous, are a reminder that these individuals actually did exist, and not just on celluloid.
Southeast Arizona’s Raucous Past
Besides Tombstone, there are a number of other sites in southern Arizona that remind one that the old west is unique and unprecedented. The abandoned mining town of Duquesne, the grasslands of Sonoita, and the ever presence of the border itself where cowboys and Mexicans alike rustled cattle from one country to the other, reinforces that this is and always has been a different world, one that is regrettably often buried in the back pages of American history, or omitted altogether.
The remains of historic ruins pockmark the desert, but the extreme weather conditions readily wear them away, often leaving no trace of the area’s bygone days. Fort Huachuca, an active fort, is the only one of over seventy military posts established in the late 19th century still standing. This is unfortunate, because the West with its glamour, lore and legends is as popular today as it’s ever been. Tombstone is not just a town too tough to die; Tombstone is a reminder of the raucous, rough heyday of the tough American past where death with dignity meant dying with those boots on.
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