TRAVEL AWAITS ARTICLES: How to Spend a Perfect Day in Bisbee, Arizona

The full article was published in Travel Awaits on June 4, 2020.

One of my husband’s favorite authors, J.A. Jance, set most of her books in Seattle, Washington, where she lived most of her life (also where we lived before we started RVing). But the Brady series is set in the town of Bisbee, where she was raised. 

Bisbee is less than 12 miles north of the Mexican border, founded as a copper, gold, and silver mining town in 1880. It grew to its highest population of over 9,000 in 1920 but today, just 5,000 people make it home. In the middle of the 1970s, it transformed itself into a tourist and artists’ haven. That was when, just like in other mining towns in Arizona, companies stopped their mining operations. 

Phelps Dodge Corporation worked with the local government to create a mine tour that was part of the town’s bid to become a tourist destination. The federal government also provided federal aid to complete the flagship tour of the Copper Queen Mine, one of many things that make a perfect day in Bisbee.

The Queen Mine Tour

from the Queen Mine Tour

Bisbee’s Queen Mine was one of the richest copper and one of the largest mines in history. In 1976 it reopened as a tourist destination less than 100 years after the mine originally opened. A high-quality turquoise known as Bisbee Blue was a by-product of its copper mining days and today is a regarded and priceless collectible. About 50,000 people a year, outfitted with a hard hat and a miner’s headlamp, take the Queen Mine Tour. For about an hour, you will see how miners worked, going down to 1,500 feet below ground. Temperature down there remains at 47 degrees year-round. 

The Lavender Pit

Lavender Pit Photo Credit: Lynn Libert Andrews of the Arizona Photography Group

Near this Queen Mine is the former open-pit copper mine called Lavender Pit. Jeep tours are available if you want to see it up close. It's not colored purple; it got its name from Harrison M. Lavender, who, as vice-president and general manager of Phelps Dodge Corporation, proceeded to make the previously unprofitable low-grade copper-bearing rock in the area into commercial copper ore. 

The Copper Queen Hotel

The Copper Queen Hotel, Facebook

Bisbee’s development as a tourist destination spurred artist Stephen Hutchison to purchase and redevelop the famed Copper Queen Hotel. Today, it is the most iconic lodging place in town. In 1898 the Queen Consolidated Mining Company provided the hotel with a comfortable place for the executives and dignitaries when they visited.  

"John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Lee Remick, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, Ollie North, Nancy Reagan, Gabby Giffords, Jake LaMotta, and Linda Ronstadt are some of the famous people who have stayed in this historic hotel. John Wayne’s favorite room is up the main staircase on the second floor, and it is the most requested room today. But the Copper Queen Hotel is even better known for those who checked in but never checked out. It is said there are 16 spirits haunting the hotel, and this is why I will never stay the night!" The former Copper Queen Cafe and Saloon are both still in their original locations but are now known as 1902 The Spirit Room and The Overlook Saloon. It's the same saloon where John Wayne and Lee Marvin once had a disagreement that ended with Marvin being thrown out a window by the Duke.

"It is also interesting to know that the large boiler in the basement of the Mercantile Building across the street (owned by Phelps Dodge) was used to heat the Copper Queen Hotel through a tunnel, while The Palm Room on the first floor was used as air well to provide cool air to the rooms during the area’s hot summers. The swinging double doors that do not lock and open to the lobby are still there, reminiscent of the good ol’ doors of the Western days. In fact, the Queen Copper Hotel is the longest continuously operated hotel in Arizona" and the only full-service hotel in town. 

Old Bisbee

Old Bisbee has a thriving cultural scene with Victorian-style houses and an elegant art deco county courthouse. Compact and walkable, downtown is quite hilly so there are a lot of stairs from which you can discover little stores or artists’ places. The best example, however, is the old four-story-high school that has a ground-level entrance for each floor given the way it’s built into the hillside.

Erie Street

Dave Corby, Facebook

You should not miss Erie Street, dubbed a living snapshot of a different time. It's like stepping into a Western movie set. It's the only thing left of Lowell, Arizona, a former mining town that was incorporated into Bisbee in the early 1900s. There are only three real stores on the street; the rest are empty. Each year in March, the entire street turns into a festival with live music, cars and motorcycles on display, and lots of food and drinks. In December when we visited, the Western Christmas decor was priceless.

Museums

from Facebook

If you have more than a day, there are three museums that would you could visit. The Bisbee Council on the Arts’ Mining and Historical Museum was once the headquarters of the Queen Consolidated Mining Company. It is Smithsonian Institution’s first-ever rural affiliate. And there is the Bisbee Restoration Museum run by volunteers and the Muheim Heritage House Museum whose restored interior and precious period furnishings have made it a National Historic Site.

FOR THOSE ON MOBILE, SHARE BUTTONS APPEAR WHEN YOU CLICK WEB VERSION AT THE VERY END AFTER COMMENTS.

PREVIOUS POST

Almost Back to Normal: Revisiting Arizona's Best Landmarks

CLICK THIS TO PIN THE IMAGE BELOW

CLICK THIS TO PIN THE IMAGE BELOW