Information session & Fourth visit to Tombstone

We attended an information session on Cochise County (things to see and do) hosted by Jim and Ann (activity coordinators for the park) who are very knowledgeable about the area. These sessions are held once a week and cover a variety of subjects; today’s subject was movies that were made in the area. There were so many movies filmed in this area and they do have movie sets that are in use today. Some movies that were made in Cochise County, Tombstone, The Quick and the Dead, Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone, I Married Wyatt Earp, The Outlaw Josey Whales, Clear and Present Danger, Young Guns II and many more. For more information if you are interested click on the link:
http://www.thepepper.com/tucson_film_locations.html
This link does not include many of the older movies that were filmed I noticed but still has a very long list!

We are so pleased to have such knowledgeable people right here in the park and they are so willing to share information, know the best routes to any given place in Arizona, even the road conditions of any route. Some roads are classed as Primitive which means dirt, gravel, could be narrow and windy, some creek crossing, etc., so what a bonus they will also warn of any things you need to be aware of regarding hazards of the human kind as in drug runners, illegal alien transportation, bugs, snakes, plants and most anything else you may need to know, like carrying water, having a full fuel tank, etc.
Returning home, we walked dogs, had lunch, completed some tasks, and made another trip to Tombstone, to visit the Wyatt Earp house and a church that Jim made us aware of during the information session. The Wyatt Earp house was restored by a couple from Tucson who after much research of historical documents and pictures restored the house to its original size and appearance. In order to have the house open to the public at no charge the house is also a gallery of Western and Southwestern art, featuring several Arizonan artists and was officially opened in October 2005.

This bronze of Wyatt Earp was dedicated last week.



Wyatt's brothers built homes beside him and across the street which unfortunatly were not preserved.

Standing on the front porch of Wyatt's house, it is so cool to stand on the porch of Wyatt's house, I just cannot explain the feeling.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church -- Completed in 1882, St. Paul's is the oldest standing Protestant church in Arizona. The church has the original stained glass, two ship's lamps, the adobe walls have been stuccoed over, and the steeple was struck by lightening and was rebuilt but is not as tall as the original. The church was not open today; we will try again one day when in Tombstone.

The stained glass windows are covered with a screen so did not photograph well. We will return and try again.

From there we wandered the streets and stopped at the Crystal Palace Saloon for a rest, interesting place to stop, we had looked in on one of our previous visits and took a picture of the fancy bar, today we spent some time and found out some interesting facts. The bar is original, the stools are an addition, stools were not used in the 1800's. Today they boast the best food this side of the Pecos. Cannot vouch for all their food but we ordered Nachos and they were very good!

Mounted on the wall were interesting original historic information included, the roulette table and other items.

Guess you know who this is eh!

The gentleman with the bandanna and stripped shirt is Alphonse Ramirez an Apache Chiricahua Native, we chatted with and purchased some handcrafted jewellery, a bracelet created with Mesquite wood, a mother of pearl and another very pretty green stone, cannot remember the name but was taken with the colour, not turquoise which is mined here and we see a lot of here.

A little history of the Crystal Palace Saloon:

In 1880, the Tribolet brothers and Bernhardt Wehrfritz opened the Golden Eagle Brewery. They offered a free lunch, German style, offering pigs feet and Limburger cheese, among other things. It was called the Fredricksburg Lager Beer Depot at one point. It burned in the 1882 fire. When Wehrfritz rebuilt, he expanded and opened the Crystal Palace Saloon. It was lavishly furnished and a gold fishpond and fountain in the center of the room (no longer there). Marshal Virgil Earp and Dr. George Goodfellow had offices on the second floor. In 1914 when Arizona prohibition closed all the saloons the Crystal Palace became a theatre featuring movies and variety shows. After the prohibition, it was reopened as the Crystal Palace Saloon and in the 1960; it was restored as it was in 1882. It remains the most popular saloon in Tombstone today and the only authentic one.
As most saloons in Tombstone, there are many bullet holes in the ceiling, floors, and walls. The bar, walls, floors, ceiling and lights are original, although the lights have been outfitted to accomodate electricity. The ceilings are decorated with Tin Stamped tiles, really pretty.

Special Note* They were the same type tiles we wanted to install on the ceilings of our home, we found they were available but the cost was prohibitive so we settled for some wallpaper which copied the style of the old tin tiles, Woody and Chris (our son-in-law along with myself) pasted the decrortive wallpaper on most ceilings of our acerage home. When we sold our home everyone who viewed our home made so many positive comments on the ceilings!

After wandering for a short time we returned home, took puppies for a walk, and settled into our usual evening routine, counting our blessings for the opportunity to explore this very interesting area!