Ghost Town Trail

Tombstone is known as the town that is too tough to die. The same can’t be said about the neighboring communities of Gleeson, Courtland, and Pearce. Unlike Tombstone, these towns experienced their heyday in the early 20th century but died out as rapidly as they rose to prominence. This trail starts just outside Tombstone and follows a smooth graded dirt path throughout its duration. There are no challenging parts of this trail, and any vehicle will be able to make the drive. The trail starts near the town of Gleeson. This area is known for rich turquoise deposits. The area around Gleeson was initially inhabited by the Chiricahua Apache, who mined the turquoise for trade. After the Apache were either killed or relocated to the Dragoon Mountains, a prospector named John Gleeson discovered a rich copper deposit in the area. This discovery led to an explosion of growth in the local populace. Like the other towns along this trail, Gleeson rapidly rose to prominence yet fell after mining operations ceased. The most famous building still standing in Gleeson is the Gleeson Jail. This building was constructed in 1910 and remains well preserved to this day. The next town on the Ghost Town Trail is Courtland. Courtland is largely closed to the public, but private tours can be arranged in advance. A few buildings are accessible to the the public along the Ghost Town Trail. The most prominent of these is the Courtland Jail. This building is an unrestored twin of the jail located in Gleeson. The final town along the Ghost Town Trail is Pearce. This town replaced Tombstone as the local Wild West town when gold was discovered in the area in the late 19th century. Pearce continued to prosper until just before World War 2. Pearce retains several historic buildings and provides a great connecting route to Middlemarch Trail. There are no camping locations along this route.