Tombstone

I have never been to Tombstone even though I am a native Arizonan. Aaron took me there yesterday for Labor Day and we had a great time. Here is Aaron on the historic Allen Street in Tombstone.

I really enjoyed the wild west atmosphere in Tombstone. A lot of it is not original, but we sought out the original sites and had a great time.

Tombstone was founded on silver mining. We decided to take a tour of the mine that goes under the town of Tombstone. It was a great tour and our guide was very knowledgeable. Aaron was very excited to go see the mine.

Aaron inside the mine. You could still see the tool marks, dynamite blasts, tin cans, boards from a dynamite box, and even a fuse for the dynamite inside the mine. It was neat to see original items left in the mine.

Aaron and I after the tour. I was laughing pretty hard because our tour guide couldn't get the camera to work. I forgot to turn it on before I handed it over to him and felt so bad because I said he only had to point and shoot. Our camera is a little intimidating and I usually have it ready for others to take a photo of us.

My handsome hubby at the end of the tour.

We also visited the Tombstone Courthouse. It had a lot of artifacts and the building was an original which we really like.

Some items from Wyatt Earp. They don't have very many of his belongings because he wasn't famous for awhile after he left the town. There is a theory that his wife Maddie sold all of their belongings after he left her for Josie in order to move from Tombstone.

The Courtroom.

I thought the gallows were fascinating. Hangings were town events that people would bring picnics to and watch. I guess we get the same fascination and amusement from our movies today. I just don't think I would want to see it in real life.

An original poker table. Gambling, drinking and brothels were very popular in Tombstone.

This was interesting. Someone lost their sheers and the tree grew around it.

The Bird Cage was the "theater" and "brothel" of the town. No respectable woman would enter here or even walk in front of it. The women that worked the brothels were known as the Shady Ladies because they could only walk on their side of the street which was shaded. This building was very interesting. It had been boarded up for years and when they opened it up to renovate it looked like everyone had been shooed out of the structure and the building was closed. There were drinking glasses, whiskey barrels, poker tables, mirrors, poker chips looked like they had been left behind in a hurry and they are still in their same spot as if frozen in time. They even have a female ghost that is regularly sited in the building. They think she came in with the hearse because she is dressed very properly and no proper women would have been at the Bird Cage.

Aaron at the bar talking to the tour guide. There were so many artifacts from the town in this building and it was very interesting to tour.

The stage was smaller than I thought, but it was interesting to see how large we have buildings and rooms today.

There was a wealthy Russian that paid $25 a night for this theater box. This was very expensive since the normal wage made a day was $1-$5.

Poker tables, chips, whiskey barrel and mirrors in their original spot. It was kind of an eerie feeling to see it in that state.

One of the brothel rooms. I didn't realize that Josie was a prostitute. I thought she was only an actress. This is believed to be her room that she and Wyatt Earp had their liaisons. The prostitutes had to pay a monthly fee and have a valid business license with the town. They were also inspected monthly by doctors to make sure they were not pregnant or had visible STDs. Their business taxes went to pay for the schools, hospitals and help the needy. Wyatt Earp was the one that signed for Josie's business license.

Aaron with Wyatt Earp's statue in front of his house. Wyatt's house only had 2 rooms and it did not have a bathroom or a kitchen. It was a place to sleep and have shelter from the elements. It provided the necessities.

We also went to the Boot Hill cemetery. Here are the graves of the men killed in the OK Corral gunfight. A lot of people were shot, hung or committed suicide or even killed by Indians (according to the Tombstones).