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| Boothill Graveyard, Tombstone, AZ |
Tombstone is the site of the infamous 'Fight at the OK Corral', which happened in 1881 and lasted about 30 seconds. Thirty shots were fired, three outlaws were killed, three lawmen were injured but survived.
In case you can't read it, the headstone to the right reads:
Here lies George Johnson
Hung by mistake
1882
He was right
We was wrong
But we strung him up
And now he's gone
Poor guy!
The town restored the original town cemetery around 1940. It has about 300 residents - with the Chinese and Jewish people in their own sections. A few of the headstones were humorous, most were sad - suicide, killed, unknown. Many of them died in 1882. Both the headstones I saw that said 'suicide' were women, and both died that same year. Not sure what happened to so thin the ranks of townspeople, the above gunfight happened in the year before.
The town relies on tourism to keep the town alive today. The wide main street is blocked to cars, and if you squint and ignore the blacktop, you can almost see the horses coming down the street, riders dusty and tired; ready for some refreshment. It took a hardy breed to survive on the edges of the frontier; they can't have stayed young long in the harsh environment.
Yet, the country is beautiful. The air is clear and you can see forever. Especially coming fresh from the midwest in the winter, the clear blue sky is refreshing. It's been clear and sunny with temps in the perfect upper 60's / low 70's. As they say - it's a great place to visit, even if I can't picture living here!
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