Boothill Graveyard in Tombstone, Arizona is easily the most tourist filled cemetery I have been to. Even more so than Granary Burying Ground! It also marks the first cemetery I have ever paid admission to check out. $3 gets you entry, a pamphlet detailing all of the known burials, and a short speech about the cemetery from the sweetest little old lady. (Dream job much???)
Tombstone wasn’t originally on our itinerary but when I realized how close we were I figured it’d definitely be worth a detour. With a name like Tombstone, it’s no surprise that I’d be interested in visiting this historic town. Tombstone calls itself ‘the town too tough to die!’ Its a place essentially frozen in time. Down the main strip, lots of original buildings remain some even decorated with bullet holes from gunfights. There are ghost tours, daily gun fight reenactments, mine tours, gift shops, a shooting gallery and most exciting to me, pressed penny machines galore!
All of that was great but I was most enthused by the cemetery! Since the original grave markers were wood very few stood up to the test of time. What can be found now are recreations. Some are humorous, like Lester Moore whose epitaph reads as follows…
‘four slugs
from a 44
no les
no more’
Others give the cause of death such as Six-Shooter Jim who was ‘shot by Burt Alvord’. Then there are lots that are just ‘unknown’. The pamphlet you get when you enter gives you even more information. To be honest, I didn’t look at it once while still in the cemetery because I was so excited to see everything and take photos but I really enjoyed reading it once we got back in the car. The cemetery isn’t that large but there’s lot to see.
It was hot as heck, and the graveyard was full of living folks (I did an A+ job shooting around people, huh?) but we all really enjoyed ourselves. Definitely worth the price of admission to cross yet another famous US cemetery off my list!
xoxo
More from this trip;
▴ just married!
▴ instant photos from our wedding week
▴ that time I got married in a ghost town
▴ Cadillac Ranch
