Southern Arizona - American Southwest - page 482

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from their accommodations and who like to stay up late partying. The rumble of motor-
cycles is a constant on Bisbee's streets.

ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE Bisbee is on Ariz. 80, which begins at I-10, in the town of Benson,
45 miles east of Tucson.
VISITOR INFORMATION Contact the Bisbee Visitor Center, 2 Copper Queen Plaza
( & 866/2-BISBEE [224-7233] or 520/432-3554; www.discoverbisbee.com).
EXPLORING THE TOWN
At the Bisbee Visitor Center, in the middle of town, pick up walking-tour brochures that
guide you past the town's most important historic buildings and sites. On the second
floor of the Copper Queen Library, 6 Main St. ( & 520/432-4232 ), some great old
photographs give a good idea of what the town looked like in the past century.
Don't miss the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum , 5 Copper Queen Plaza
( & 520/432-7071; www.bisbeemuseum.org), housed in the 1897 Copper Queen Con-
solidated Mining Company office building. This small but comprehensive museum
features exhibits on the history of Bisbee. It's open daily from 10am to 4pm; admission
is $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors, and $3 children 15 and under.
For another look at early life in Bisbee, visit the Muheim Heritage House, 207
Youngblood Hill ( & 520/432-7698; www.bisbeemuseum.org), which is reached by
walking up Brewery Gulch. The house was built between 1898 and 1915 and has an
unusual semicircular porch. The interior is decorated with period furniture. It's open
Friday through Tuesday from 10am to 4pm; admission is $4.
O.K. Street, which parallels Brewery Gulch but is high on the hill on the southern
edge of town, is a good place to walk for views of Bisbee. At the top of O.K. Street, there's
a path that takes you up to a hill above town for an even better panorama of Bisbee's
jumble of old buildings. Atop this hill are numerous small, colorfully painted shrines that
are built into the rocks and filled with candles, plastic flowers, and pictures of the Virgin
Mary. It's a steep climb on a rocky, very uneven path, but the views and the fascinating
little shrines make it worth the effort.
Mining made this town what it is, so you should be sure to take an underground mine
tour to find out what it was like to be a miner here in Bisbee. Queen Mine Tours
( & 866/432-2071 or 520/432-2071; www.queenminetour.com) takes visitors down
into one of the town's old copper mines. Tours are offered daily between 9am and
3:30pm and cost $12 for adults and $5 for children 4 to 15. The ticket office and mine
are just south of the Old Bisbee business district, at the Ariz. 80 interchange.
For an exploration of some of the steeper and narrower streets of Bisbee, take a
90-minute tour ($40) of old Bisbee with Lavender Jeep Tours ( & 520/432-5369 ).
Several other tours are also available. For a walk on the dark side, sign up for the Old
Bisbee Ghost Tour ( & 520/432-3308; www.oldbisbeeghosttour.com). These 90-min-
ute tours are offered Friday through Sunday nights at 7pm and cost $13 for adults and
$9 for children 11 and under.
Bisbee has lots of interesting stores and galleries, and shopping is the main recreational
activity here. To get a look at some of the quality jewelry created from minerals mined in
the area, stop by Czar Jewelry, 13 Main St. ( & 520/432-3027 ). Another good place to
shop for jewelry is Bisbee Blue, at the Lavender Pit View Point, on Ariz. 80 ( & 520/432-
5511 ), an exclusive dealer of the famous Bisbee Blue turquoise. Turquoise is associated with

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