Tombstone
11 S 4th St
Tombstone, AZ
The town too tough to die, where the most famous gunfight of the Old West still echoes down a boardwalk-lined street.
Tombstone is the most famous Old West town in America, a silver-mining boomtown that exploded to life in the Arizona desert in the late 1870s and became the setting for the most legendary gunfight in Western history. It earned its nickname, the town too tough to die, by surviving fires, floods, and the collapse of its mines, and today it survives still, its historic core preserved as a living monument to the frontier era. Wooden boardwalks, false-front saloons, and stagecoaches line its central street.
The town's fame rests above all on the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the thirty-second burst of violence in 1881 that pitted the lawmen Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and Doc Holliday against a group of local outlaws. That single event, retold in countless books and films, turned Tombstone into a symbol of the Wild West. But there is far more to the place, a real town with a rich and rowdy history that boomed and busted in the desert in the space of a few dramatic years.
What Guests Love
- Walking the wooden boardwalks of historic Allen Street, lined with saloons and shops
- The story of the O.K. Corral gunfight, retold on the very ground where it happened
- Boothill Graveyard, with its blunt and famous old headstone epitaphs
- The whole town's frontier atmosphere, from stagecoaches to period-dressed locals
Worth Knowing
- It is an authentic historic town wrapped in Old West tourism, so expect a mix of real history and staged fun
- Allen Street's core is walkable, but wear comfortable shoes for the boardwalks and dusty side streets
- It sits at high desert elevation, so it can be cool or windy even when the low desert is hot
- Reenactments and events draw crowds on weekends and during festivals, so plan around them
Details
Tombstone, AZ
Learn about Tombstone
A silver boomtown is born
Tombstone owes its existence to a prospector named Ed Schieffelin, who went hunting for silver in this dangerous Apache country in the 1870s despite warnings that all he would find was his tombstone. When he struck a rich vein of silver instead, he named his claim Tombstone in wry defiance, and the name stuck to the boomtown that erupted around it. Almost overnight, thousands of miners, merchants, gamblers, and fortune-seekers poured into the desert.
For a few dazzling years Tombstone was one of the fastest-growing and richest towns in the West, with saloons, theaters, restaurants, newspapers, and every vice a mining camp could offer. But like most boomtowns, it burned bright and briefly. Fires swept the town more than once, and when the mines flooded with groundwater that proved too costly to pump out, the boom collapsed. The town shrank drastically, yet, true to its nickname, it refused to vanish entirely.
The gunfight that made it legend
On an October afternoon in 1881, long-simmering tensions between the town's lawmen and a loose group of local outlaws known as the Cowboys boiled over into gunfire in a vacant lot near the O.K. Corral. On one side stood the assistant marshal Virgil Earp with his brothers Wyatt and Morgan and their friend Doc Holliday; on the other, several of the Cowboys. In about thirty seconds of shooting, three of the Cowboys were killed and several men wounded.
The gunfight settled little in its own moment and set off a spiral of revenge that shaped the following months, but over time it grew into the defining legend of the American frontier. Retold and reshaped in countless books and films, it made household names of the Earps and Doc Holliday and turned Tombstone into shorthand for the Wild West itself. Today the site of the fight is preserved, and daily reenactments bring those famous thirty seconds back to life for visitors.
The town too tough to die
Beyond the gunfight, Tombstone preserves a remarkable slice of frontier life. The historic Allen Street runs through the heart of town, its boardwalks lined with restored saloons, shops, and buildings from the boom years. The old Bird Cage Theatre, once a notorious hall of gambling and entertainment, and the offices of the Tombstone Epitaph, the newspaper that still bears the town's darkly humorous spirit, are among the landmarks that survive.
On the edge of town lies Boothill Graveyard, the resting place of many who died in Tombstone's violent early days, famous for the blunt, sometimes grimly funny epitaphs on its wooden markers. This was rough country, taken from the Apache whose homeland it was, and the town's story is bound up with the wider frontier history of mining, ranching, and conflict in southeastern Arizona. To walk Tombstone today is to step into that whole boom-and-bust world.
Season by season
Fall through spring is the most comfortable time to visit Tombstone, when the high desert is mild and sunny and the boardwalks are pleasant to stroll. These cooler months are also when the town's festivals and reenactment events are liveliest, drawing crowds to Allen Street.
Summer is hot, though the town's elevation keeps it cooler than the low desert, and mornings and evenings can be quite pleasant. Winter brings crisp, clear days and cool nights, with the surrounding grasslands golden and the Sky Island mountains often capped with snow, a striking backdrop to the old Western town.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Tombstone
Bisbee
About 24 miles south
A steep, artsy former copper-mining town of winding streets, galleries, and the Queen Mine tour.
Kartchner Caverns State Park
About 20 miles northwest
A stunning living limestone cave with delicate formations, seen on guided tours near Benson.
San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area
About 15 miles east
A rare desert river corridor famous for its birdlife, protecting cottonwoods along the San Pedro River.
Fort Huachuca
About 25 miles west
A historic army post near Sierra Vista with a military museum recounting the frontier and later eras.