Bisbee, AZ 11/16

A day trip while staying in Benson was to the town of Bisbee, a mining town founded in the late 1900's. Copper, gold and silver were mined in this area. After mining operations ceased in 1975 Bisbee became a popular place for artists and tourists. 

We were told the streets were narrow but we didn't expect this narrow, 
this is a 2-way street.  

Having little flat land to work with, the town grew up on a mountainside, stairs were often built on the hillsides instead of building streets. Most of the staircases found in Bisbee today started as dirt paths uses by residents and mules to carry supplies to the houses perched on steep hillsides. The stairs go from one street level to the next. There are still many houses in Bisbee that are only accessible by stairs. (Interesting side note…moving companies delivering to Bisbee check the house location before agreeing to deliver.) 

Each year Bisbee has a running race/stair climb called the Bisbee 1000. The race includes a total of 1,034 stairs spread over 9 different stair cases. We got a workout just sight seeing in this town. 

Stair rails between the green house and corner of white deck lead upward to the level above where you can see the deck of another house. 

Loved walking around town with the old buildings, eclectic eateries and shops. Many of the houses have unique art incorporated into their yards, some creative upscaling here, note the car door used for a gate 

The town is a maze of stairs. There are houses on both sides of this staircase, also a house on top which is the next street level up.

The old town of Lowell...

When looking for a lunch spot and checking reviews, a diner called the Bisbee Breakfast Club was our choice, “good food, reasonable, a favorite of locals” and just a couple miles from down town Bisbee. We plugged the address into our GPS and low and behold we ended up in this strange looking neighborhood. It was as if we were morphed back into the 1950’s. The street, only a couple blocks long, seemed frozen in time and deserted…old buildings, cars and stores closed up. The once open-pit copper mine (over 800 ft deep and 5,000 ft long) is directly behind this street. We looked around somewhat bewildered, thinking our GPS was craaazzzy. 

Then we spotted the Bisbee Breakfast Club at the end of the block. The outside didn’t look like much, but it seemed busy, the inside was a nice surprise. The decor was eclectic, modern and clean, as were the patrons. Much different than the outside appearance. Food was very good, yeah for Trip Advisor reviews. After doing some research we learned Lowell was once a mining town bordering Bisbee. Most the original town site was consumed by the excavation of the open-pit copper mine. Many houses were moved or torn down. 

All that’s left of downtown Lowell is the few blocks of Erie Street. Now that I know more of the history, I’d like to go back again, it was a great place for photography, not knowing any of the history beforehand, our first impression of Erie street was frankly little “eerie”.

This picture isn't the greatest, however, I think interesting. The buildings in the background sit on the edge of the large open pit copper mine which closed in the 1970's. The old town of Lowell, where we found our diner sits behind the buildings.
That's all from Bisbee...a great place to visit.