Boothill Graveyard

Four slugs from a .44, and the town that buried them

⏱ 45 minutes-1 hour👤 All ages$

The history: the graveyard was used from the town's earliest years until a newer cemetery opened in the 1880s, after which it was neglected, and many of today's markers are restorations based on research and memory rather than originals, a point the site is honest about. That does not lessen the effect: the plots of the Clantons and McLaurys, the row of the hanged, and the simple markers of miners killed underground give a vivid picture of how short and violent life in a boomtown could be. Names to look for: Marshal Fred White, shot in 1880 when Curly Bill Brocius's pistol went off as White tried to disarm him; the five men hanged together in 1884 for the Bisbee Massacre, a holdup in which bystanders were killed; and John Heath, taken from the jail and lynched by a mob for his part in the same crime. China Mary, a powerful figure in Tombstone's Chinese community, is buried here, and the Jewish memorial recalls the merchants who helped build the town. As for the ghosts, Tombstone's reputation centers on the Bird Cage Theatre and the old saloons, but visitors to Boothill sometimes report a figure among the crosses or a light with no source after the gift shop closes.

Visiting well: buy admission and the guide at the gift shop, walk the rocky paths (closed shoes and sun protection are essential in the desert), and take your time reading the epitaphs. Morning and late afternoon are cooler and give the best light on the crosses and the Dragoon Mountains beyond. Stay on the paths and do not take rocks or souvenirs from the graves. In town, the O.K. Corral stages its gunfight reenactment daily, and the Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park displays a replica gallows in its yard, which completes the story the graveyard begins.

Building the trip: spend the rest of the day on Allen Street, take an evening Tombstone ghost tour, and stay over in Bisbee, half an hour south, at the Copper Queen Hotel, one of Arizona's most haunted hotels. Hotel Monte Vista in Flagstaff extends the haunted Arizona circuit north.