Copper Queen Hotel

Copper-boom glamour and a crowded guest list

★★★★★📍 Uptown Bisbee, Arizona$$

The history: Bisbee's copper mines made it a boomtown of saloons and grand buildings, and the Copper Queen was its showpiece, hosting politicians and celebrities passing through the territory. When mining ended, Bisbee reinvented itself as an artists' town, and the hotel carried the old glamour into the new era. It was built and operated by the Phelps Dodge company to house mine executives and investors, has 48 rooms, survived the town's 1908 fire and the end of large-scale mining in 1974, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Guests are said to have included Theodore Roosevelt and John Wayne, and several rooms carry famous names: Room 312 for Harry Houdini, 211 for John Wayne, 406 for Theodore Roosevelt, 409 for Lillie Langtry and 210 for Grace Dodge. Staff and lore count as many as 16 spirits in residence.

Room craft: ask about the rooms tied to Julia and Billy if you want the lore up close, or request a quieter room if you prefer your ghosts at a distance. Read the ghost journals, and leave an entry if the night delivers. Room 315 is Julia Lowell's room and Room 412 is billed as Billy's room, so call the hotel directly to request either. Rooms have private bathrooms and period furnishings, and some have claw-foot tubs. The hotel has a restaurant and saloon; a free continental breakfast is offered on weekdays, with fuller breakfast and dinner service on weekends and busy weekdays.

Practicals: 11 Howell Avenue, uptown Bisbee; Tombstone and Boothill are about half an hour away; Tucson is roughly 90 minutes. Fit: the southern anchor of a haunted Arizona loop with Hotel Monte Vista in Flagstaff, and a weekend of galleries, mine tours and ghost tours. Bisbee is steep, with public stairways standing in for streets in parts of town, so pack good shoes and expect to climb back up from Main Street.