Boothill Graveyard
Near Tombstone, Arizona
On this dusty rise north of Allen Street lies Boothill, the old graveyard that holds much of Tombstone's early violence beneath its stones. It opened in eighteen seventy eight as the town cemetery and took burials until roughly eighteen eighty six, when a new cemetery replaced it. For decades afterward it was neglected and nearly forgotten, until the townspeople restored it in the nineteen forties as a monument to the wild days.
The nickname Boothill did not even appear until the nineteen twenties. It refers to the many men buried here who, as the saying went, died with their boots on. Records name about two hundred people, though more are believed to rest in this ground.
Three of the most visited graves belong to Billy Clanton and the brothers Tom and Frank McLaury, the three men killed in the famous gunfight of eighteen eighty one. They lie side by side beneath a long pile of stones, a marker for each. There is also a Chinese section, where China Mary, the powerful figure who ran Tombstone's Chinese quarter, was laid to rest.
Be aware that not every marker here is honest. Over the years various operators have added invented graves and colorful epitaphs, so the line between real history and showmanship runs right through this cemetery.
