The Inn at Castle Rock, About Us, Now & Then

The Inn at Castle Rock provides accommodations with the charm of a bygone era. Travelers can stay in peace and comfort at affordable prices. The Inn is nestled in the mountain town of Bisbee, located in Southeastern Arizona. With verandas, patios and hillside gardens, it has much to offer guests staying for one night or for one week.

The building, set up to be a Bed and Breakfast, is located in a prime position on Tombstone Canyon, making it a short walk to the heart of historic Old Bisbee. Guests can take in the sights, peruse the local shops or patronize the many restaurants & bars.

Built in the 1890’s the Inn offers travelers a unique experience of staying in a very historic building with a lot of history to it and the surrounding area.

Scroll down for more HISTORY OF OUR INN, ABOUT THE OWNERS and GHOSTS AT THE INN.

HISTORY OF OUR INN

Bisbee’s mining history, as well as the history of The Inn at Castle Rock, all started here, at the foot of Castle Rock; Gateway to Tombstone Canyon…

Into this pass during May of 1877, came Lt. John A. Rucker with fifteen men of Company C, Sixth Cavalry and the history of Bisbee really began. Apache Indians had shared the location of a spring at the base of Castle Rock. While stopping at this spring, Lieutenant Rucker and Jack Dunn, a civilian tracker, found a faint green stain on the hillside, which indicated the presence of lead, copper, and perhaps silver.

Due to the commitments of the military life, their claim was not registered until August 1877. Dunn persuaded George Warren, a part-time prospector, to search the area for further claims as his partner.

George Warren established several claims during the rest of 1877 and into 1878; But all of them were in his name only. (Jack Dunn never was listed on another claim in the Bisbee area and George Warren was considered a “founder” of the Bisbee mining interests.)

In 1880, the small mining community petitioned for a post office to be established, the group selected the name of Bisbee after DeWitt Bisbee who helped secure financing for the Copper Queen mine. During the 1880’s the small mining community grew from a few hundred to about 1,500 individuals. By the early 1900's, Bisbee's rich mineral sites helped it to become the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco.

It is at Castle Rock and the Apache Springs—where Lt. Rucker and Jack Dunn found that faint green stain in the rocks—that the little community of Bisbee started with George Warren’s and George Atkins’ homes.

Across from Castle Rock is where Muirhead House—now The Inn at Castle Rock—was built over the spring that Rucker and Dunn enjoyed that day in May 1877.

Bisbee’s first mayor John Joseph Muirhead built the Inn in 1895—Muirhead House was a miners’ boarding house at the time—as one of Bisbee’s largest wooden structures.

Over the last 115 years it has seen many changes. The mayor passed away in the 1930’s and his wife ran the house until 1948. It later become apartments and eventually turned back into a hotel by Jim Babcock out of Aspen Colorado in the 1980’s.

In 2009, after being closed for a couple years it was purchased by Chris Brown, and is being brought back to life. It is his vision to bring the Inn back to its former glory.

(c) Copyright  Kathy Sowden

Looking up-canyon in this card, we are the wide building, center, below Castle Rock.

(c) Copyright  Kathy Sowden

(c) Copyright  Kathy Sowden

(c) Copyright  Kathy Sowden

ABOUT THE OWNERS

Chris Brown bought The Inn at Castle Rock in August 2009. Game for a challenge, Chris and Kirt Dodd are in the process of restoring the charm and beauty that this Historic old building has to offer its guests of today.

Click here for September 2009 Bisbee Observer Article

Click on this photo to see the article.

Chris is from New Zealand but settled in Bisbee in 2002 "because it is the nicest place in the world."

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Special thanks to Finders Keepers' owner Kathy Sowden for sharing her historic Bisbee postcard collection with us.

Enjoy paths through our hillside gardens.