This weekend the wife and I made one of our semi-regular trips to Bisbee, Arizona for some relaxation and fun. I thought I'd share some highlights.
First stop along the way was Tombstone. This is the old Cochise County Courthouse; my grandfather served on juries here.
While in Tombstone, I bumped into an old friend in a gun shop there.
As you come over the Mule Mountains into Bisbee, there's a viewpoint, where pictures of the town have been made for over 100 years. Here is Bisbee as it appears today; little has changed; most of the buildings are over 100 years old. We stayed in the old Copper Queen hotel, center right with the three high roofs.
This is a shot of Main Street in Bisbee. The structure at the left is the old combination Post Office and Library. No one gets mail delivery in Bisbee; the hills are too steep. They all go to the post office where they have mailboxes. My mother, born in Bisbee in1912, studied in the library on the top two floors.
Here's another shot of the Post Office/Library from the side:
As you go up main street and look back, this is the view. At the end of the street is the old (second) Phelps Dodge Mercantile building. It replaced the first structure which burned down in 1938. A young Del Webb built this one in 1939.
Along the South side of Main street, you can see the bay windows of the Letson Loft Hotel. This block was originally built by a man named Letson around the turn of the 20th Century.
Bisbee has its artsy-craftsy contingent now. This is a shot of a street guy with a guitar; just one of many characters in town.
We experienced a newer eating place, named Screaming Banshee Pizza, not far from the courthouse. Here's a shot of their brick pizza oven. The food is terrific; highly recommended. They make their own sausage and their own meatballs; both are incredibly good.
The men's bathroom in Screaming Banshee is not for those wishing privacy. Yes, those are cameras on the walls!
You want 5-star dining? Try the Cafe Roka on Main Street. It's open only on weekends, and reservations are required. Here's a pic of my wife and I and a couple of friends enjoying a meal overlooking Main Street:
Does Bisbee have ghosts? OH yeah. This is kind of spooky, but here's the picture that freaked me out a bit. This is a pic of the park area beside the old Phelps Dodge Headquarters, just after dark. I photographed it just because it was nice under the street lights there. Look carefully, and you will see an old man sitting on the park bench on the left.
Here's an enlargement of that photo, showing the old man. Look at the clothes he's wearing:
At any rate, my attention wandered to something else, and when I returned to this scene a few seconds later, the old man was gone - poof. I really didn't notice him in the picture until I got home. Just sayin'.
If you continue up Main Street, you will come to the newer Cochise County Courthouse, built in 1931. A real "art deco" piece of architecture.
Here's the bas relief of two miners on the face of the court house:
At the front entrance of the court house stand these two bronze sentinels, each with a sword of justice:
Right next to the court house is the old Gothic-style St. Patrick's catholic church. The last time I was there was in 1960, for my maternal grandmother's funeral service. It's been very nicely cared for over the years.
There's more about ghosts. This is a picture, taken at night, of the Bisbee city park - an area for gatherings and for kids to play ball. What's interesting is that this site was originally the town cemetery, and the corpses in the marked graves were re-interred in 1913 in Greenwood Cemetery, about 3 miles SE of old Bisbee. The problem is that there were many unmarked graves; no one knew where to dig up those remains, so they just graded and cemented over the site. Those remains will probably be there for eternity. The wind whistles through the trees there, and it does sound like wailing at night...
I was heartened to see this. It's the grave of an unknown soldier in Greenwood Cemetery, which by the style of the gravestone, dates from the time of the Spanish-American war. The song "Where have all the flowers gone?" comes to mind.
Up on the hill west of Bisbee is the old Bisbee High School, built in 1913. My mother graduated here in 1929. It's in the Guinness Book of Records. Because it's built on a hill, each of its four floors has an exit at ground level. No longer a high school, it's become an administration building for Cochise County.
I'll leave you with this tidbit. Just below the high school is a house known as the Oliver House. Since it was built at the turn of the 20th Century, there have been 26, count 'em, twenty-six deaths in the house. Today it's a bed and breakfast, but few board there - ghost encounters, and really scary ones, have been very prevalent. In this shot, you can see the light on the front porch after dark. I really didn't want to go much closer.
The old mining town of Bisbee is really worth seeing again and again. Each time I go, I find more interesting things to see and photograph. Hope you've enjoyed this virtual tour!
John
First stop along the way was Tombstone. This is the old Cochise County Courthouse; my grandfather served on juries here.
While in Tombstone, I bumped into an old friend in a gun shop there.
As you come over the Mule Mountains into Bisbee, there's a viewpoint, where pictures of the town have been made for over 100 years. Here is Bisbee as it appears today; little has changed; most of the buildings are over 100 years old. We stayed in the old Copper Queen hotel, center right with the three high roofs.
This is a shot of Main Street in Bisbee. The structure at the left is the old combination Post Office and Library. No one gets mail delivery in Bisbee; the hills are too steep. They all go to the post office where they have mailboxes. My mother, born in Bisbee in1912, studied in the library on the top two floors.
Here's another shot of the Post Office/Library from the side:
As you go up main street and look back, this is the view. At the end of the street is the old (second) Phelps Dodge Mercantile building. It replaced the first structure which burned down in 1938. A young Del Webb built this one in 1939.
Along the South side of Main street, you can see the bay windows of the Letson Loft Hotel. This block was originally built by a man named Letson around the turn of the 20th Century.
Bisbee has its artsy-craftsy contingent now. This is a shot of a street guy with a guitar; just one of many characters in town.
We experienced a newer eating place, named Screaming Banshee Pizza, not far from the courthouse. Here's a shot of their brick pizza oven. The food is terrific; highly recommended. They make their own sausage and their own meatballs; both are incredibly good.
The men's bathroom in Screaming Banshee is not for those wishing privacy. Yes, those are cameras on the walls!
You want 5-star dining? Try the Cafe Roka on Main Street. It's open only on weekends, and reservations are required. Here's a pic of my wife and I and a couple of friends enjoying a meal overlooking Main Street:
Does Bisbee have ghosts? OH yeah. This is kind of spooky, but here's the picture that freaked me out a bit. This is a pic of the park area beside the old Phelps Dodge Headquarters, just after dark. I photographed it just because it was nice under the street lights there. Look carefully, and you will see an old man sitting on the park bench on the left.
Here's an enlargement of that photo, showing the old man. Look at the clothes he's wearing:
At any rate, my attention wandered to something else, and when I returned to this scene a few seconds later, the old man was gone - poof. I really didn't notice him in the picture until I got home. Just sayin'.
If you continue up Main Street, you will come to the newer Cochise County Courthouse, built in 1931. A real "art deco" piece of architecture.
Here's the bas relief of two miners on the face of the court house:
At the front entrance of the court house stand these two bronze sentinels, each with a sword of justice:
Right next to the court house is the old Gothic-style St. Patrick's catholic church. The last time I was there was in 1960, for my maternal grandmother's funeral service. It's been very nicely cared for over the years.
There's more about ghosts. This is a picture, taken at night, of the Bisbee city park - an area for gatherings and for kids to play ball. What's interesting is that this site was originally the town cemetery, and the corpses in the marked graves were re-interred in 1913 in Greenwood Cemetery, about 3 miles SE of old Bisbee. The problem is that there were many unmarked graves; no one knew where to dig up those remains, so they just graded and cemented over the site. Those remains will probably be there for eternity. The wind whistles through the trees there, and it does sound like wailing at night...
I was heartened to see this. It's the grave of an unknown soldier in Greenwood Cemetery, which by the style of the gravestone, dates from the time of the Spanish-American war. The song "Where have all the flowers gone?" comes to mind.
Up on the hill west of Bisbee is the old Bisbee High School, built in 1913. My mother graduated here in 1929. It's in the Guinness Book of Records. Because it's built on a hill, each of its four floors has an exit at ground level. No longer a high school, it's become an administration building for Cochise County.
I'll leave you with this tidbit. Just below the high school is a house known as the Oliver House. Since it was built at the turn of the 20th Century, there have been 26, count 'em, twenty-six deaths in the house. Today it's a bed and breakfast, but few board there - ghost encounters, and really scary ones, have been very prevalent. In this shot, you can see the light on the front porch after dark. I really didn't want to go much closer.
The old mining town of Bisbee is really worth seeing again and again. Each time I go, I find more interesting things to see and photograph. Hope you've enjoyed this virtual tour!
John
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