Bisbee, AZ

I visited Bisbee, Arizona for the first time when I went with my sixth-grade class. We drove down in our large, white rental vans to this former mining town with little to no idea about what we were going to see. From what I do recall, we went on a mine tour where we had to wear hard hats, ride in mine cart, and walk up and down and all around the mine shafts. It was dark and eerie, but an extremely unique experience.

Main Street PC: Willjay

Bisbee, Arizona is located in southern Arizona, 90 miles southeast of Tucson (1). It was founded in 1880, around the same time as Tombstone, and became a mining town due to the precious metals and copper found within the soil found by Jack Dunn (1), (2). The town soon became known as the “Queen of the Copper Camps” (2). The town is well-preserved from its original settlement and, as an extremely cultured old western town, it has the country’s oldest ballpark, Warren Ballpark, Arizona’s first golf course, Turquoise Valley, and the state’s first public library, Copper Queen (2).

Bisbee is located even more southern than Tombstone, at approximately a three-hour drive from Arizona State’s Tempe Campus (Google Maps). The best option for visiting Bisbee is to drive yourself. Since Bisbee and Tombstone are only about 30 minutes apart, I would suggest making it a weekend trip and combining visiting the two cities back to back.

The Queen's Mine Tour PC: Jlahorn

Bisbee, Arizona boasts an assortment of historic attractions. There’s the Queen Mine Tour, which is what my class and I did, which takes you 1,500 feet into an old mine (3). Thousands of people visit annually to dawn a hard hat, slick yellow jumpsuit, and headlamp to live like a miner (3). It costs $13 to take this tour (3). There is also the Old Bisbee Ghost Tours which takes you the back alleys and stairways of the town while learning its history and how the ghosts relate (4). This tour takes place every night at 7 p.m. and last one and a half hours (4). It costs $15 to attend this tour (4). I personally would not be attending because I am easily spooked and whether the ghosts are real or fake, I don't want to risk it. There are also three specific historic sites that you can see. They are Bisbee’s Heritage Stairs, which were constructed in the 1870s and lead the way to hillside homes (5). You can also observe the Copper Queen Library, the first public library in Arizona (5). There is also the Copper Miner or Iron Man sculpture which was sculpted in 1935 by R. Phillips Sanderson to commemorate the copper miners of the town (5). If you are interested in any of Bisbee’s current events, click here. To see the towns annual events, click here.

“Come be refreshed, be inspired, be yourself ... Come be Bisbee for awhile” (1).

Main Street PC: Phillip Capper