Bisbee: America's Most Interesting Small Town?

Bisbee sits in Cochise County near the Mexican border, four hours southeast of Phoenix, in the Mule Mountains at 5,538 feet elevation. It was one of the most productive copper mining regions in the world at the turn of the twentieth century, which left behind a Victorian downtown of brick commercial buildings and hillside residential neighborhoods connected by staircase streets that cars can't access. What Bisbee has done since the mining stopped — and this is the unusual part — is maintain a functional small-town life around a community of artists, writers, and independent operators who found the scale and character worth the compromise of remoteness. The Brewery Gulch area, once the most active bar district in the territory, operates today with bars and live music venues serving a resident population rather than tourists. Bisbee Coffee Company on Main Street has been a community hub for years. The Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum, affiliated with the Smithsonian, provides the best introduction to the copper mining history and its human dimensions. For the full experience: stay at the Copper Queen Hotel, which has operated since 1902.