Tombstone Town - 1
(Tombstone, Arizona, USA)
Have you watched the premier movie of a western film, "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral", and the american movie "Tombstone" that re-interpreted the old movie in a present style. Both are the movies which were set in Tombstone of southern Arizona. Unfortunately, I don't watch both yet.
Tombstone, a town surrounded by a desert, appeared in the history in the late 19th century. A mining expert, Ed Schieffelin, founded it. The origin of the name came from a story that a soldier told him that the only stone he would discovered in the place surrounded by indians would be a tombstone.
The silver lode which Ed discovered brought a prosperity to the town so that 20,000 people lived at maximum. In those days, the town had the first swimming pool in Arizona and an ice skate rink. Meanwhile, rowdy people whom the prosperity attracted caused the affairs including the gunfight which was used as the material of the movie.
The town lost a vigor as the mine declined. However, its decadence would fortunate for the town in a sense. Its townscape which maintains the state of the frontier period was designated as the National Historic Landmark District and draws 500,000 tourists every year now.
On both sides of the main street where passage of vehicles was forbidden, the townscape with an arcade continues.
An exterior wall is built by adobe structure which piles up a adobe block made of clay and put a wooden roof on it. A usual wall finish is a plaster but some of them imitate a stone wall. When I stroked one of a stone wall, a dry sound returned. In reality, it was a sheet iron embossed with a stone wall style and covers on the surface of an adobe.
In any case, low-cost design is the character of a frontier and buildings are pretty but not outstanding. The interior design is similar. Except the skillful counter of a bar, most are a simple box.
After all, before the town would matured and the design of a building would be updated to new and more refined one, Tombstone declined in the twinkling of an eye and had been just freeze-dried.
Transportation
1.5 hour from downtonw Tucson.
Link
CIty of Tombstone
Tombstone Web - Tombstone Arizona Tourist Information
NPS - Tombstone Historic District
Accommodations
Best Western Tombstone
Holiday Inn Express
Larian Motel
Tombstone Motel
Marie's Engaging B & B
Silver Nugget B & B
Stampede B & B
Tombstone Bordello B & B
References
Tombstone Web - Tombstone Arizona Tourist Information
Wikipedia
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2018.01 Photos and text in English version and Japanese version
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