Bisbee

Benson, Arizona High 68 Low 45

Today was partly cloudy this morning with the sun coming out by noon.

We drove to Bisbee today to see the old historic buildings. We were not disappointed. We stopped at the Visitor Center, which also was the place for the Queen Mine tour. We got some literature on the town, and drove to the Museum on Main Street.

We then walked up Main Street and looked at lots of old buildings. We walked through one of the many old buildings, which now is an antique shop. I guess we start to feel our age, when some of our glasses at home are for sale in an antique store. It was still interesting.

 

We went into some kind of mall and asked where to find the old high school. A customer in the coffee shop was kind enough to give me directions.

Behind the Museum where we were parked are an old hotel and an old church. We decided to go up some of the stairs next to the Museum and see the hotel and church.

Ceiling of the Hotel.

• Part of Bisbee's 1000 steps.

Inside the hotel, there are lots of displays and pictures of Bisbee from the early 1900s. One picture said that Bisbee in 1910 had a population of 20,000. By 1950, the population was down to 9000. Now instead of mining, the economy seems to be tourist oriented. The Copper Queen Hotel was built in 1902 to host visiting mining executives. It has been host to Teddy Roosevelt and John Wayne and numerous ghosts.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to go inside the Church, but the paper about it says it has a working pipe organ wit 16 foot pipes. It also has what probably from inside is some nice stained glass.

We went back and got our truck, and drove to the old High School. It sits on a steep hill, and one of the things we read about it said that it was 4 stories high and had a street entrance from each level. Because of this it is listed in the Guiness book of World Records. We checked it out, and indeed there were street level entrances from each floor. It now houses the County offices in Bisbee. We went inside, but there really wasn't anything special inside.

We came back by way of Sierra Vista and had lunch. On our way there we saw fresh snow on some of the mountains (the dreaded four letter word). After that we came home and went to pot luck at the RV Park.

Thanks for visiting.