By Larry Nader, Larry Nader Photography & Art
Published April 4, 2023, for State 48 A2Z
As we mentioned in last week’s article, we live in a time where there is a museum for nearly everything. This week we head to yet another unique Arizona museum, this one is located about an hour and 20 minutes southeast of Tucson in Historic Tombstone, Arizona. For the story of how this museum came to be, we travel back in time to 1884 when Tombstone was still a wild and dangerous town as we visit the Rose Tree Museum. I know, Rose Tree Museum…. I had the same thoughts when we walked by, and my wife wanted to visit it. But I must tell you this was a very cool and interesting place and worth the time to tour.
In 1884, Tombstone was still in the midst of a boom, with the infamous gunfight three years in its rearview mirror and the devastating floods that would cease mining operations still a couple of years off. Our story this week starts that very year when a young miner named Henry Gee and his new bride, Mary, left Scotland for Tombstone one day after they said, “I do”. While the couple was saving up to build their own home, they stayed at the Cochise Boarding House where Mary and Amelia Adamson, who ran the boarding house, struck up a friendship.
Several months later, in 1885, Mary received a large package from her family in Scotland. The package contained a variety of plants, bulbs, and cuttings from the garden that she so loved in her youth. Two of the cuttings were rooted clippings from the White Lady Banksia rose that Mary had planted as a child. Mary gave one of these cuttings to Amelia as a token of their friendship.
Together, the two friends planted Amelia’s cutting in the boarding house’s back patio near the woodshed. To both of their astonishment, the cutting not only took but flourished in the desert climate. In fact, it did so well in the dry extreme heat, some near 140 years later it is still alive, well, and blooming every spring. Talk about a symbol of undying friendship. In 1909, the boarding Cochise House was renamed the Arcade Hotel.
By the time James H and Ethel Robertson-Macia purchased the hotel in 1920, the tree had already grown quite large, and removal of the woodshed was necessary so as not to choke the roots. After removing the shed, James Macia realize that the tree was going to require a trellis system of wooden poles and metal pipes that could be moved and readjusted as the tree continued its growth. With the trellis system in place, the tree was also able to provide shade for the hotel guests on the patio.
John Hix was the first to call it the “World’s Largest Rose Tree” in his 1933 column titled Strange As It Seems. Strange As It Seems was a globally syndicated brand that also produced comic strips, books, radio shows, and film shorts from 1928 through 1970. Hix wasn’t just taking a liberal license with the term “World’s Largest Rose Tree”. One thing that Hix insisted on, to assure his readers, listeners, and viewers were receiving factual data, was that every piece of information used in Strange As It Seems to be verified as factual by at least three separate sources. It was this column that would eventually bring Robert Ripley to Tombstone a year later to check out the claim for himself.
Once checked into the Hotel, Ripley was in utter awe by what he found upon visiting the patio area. Ripley was said to be amazed by the thickness of the tree’s truck not to mention its massive canopy. He was so enthralled by the findings that he would include the World’s Largest Rose Tree in his widely syndicated column, Ripley’s Believe It or Not. With that publishing, the Tombstone Rose Tree and the Arcade Hotel were famous nearly overnight. The Rose Tree is also listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and has never had its fame or reputation disputed.
In 1936, the Arcade Inn was renamed, yet again, to the Rose Tree Inn, in honor of the amazing tree that continued to grow and astound visitors. The Inn remained a popular boarding house until it was closed and converted to a private residence in 1954. Even as a private residence, Ethyl Macia still provided public access to the patio and the massive tree. After Macia's passing, her children and grandchildren opened the Rose Tree Museum to honor and memorialize the accomplishments of their pioneering parents and grandparents. Members of the Robertson-Macia family remain residents of Tombstone still and are involved in the maintenance and operation of the Museum.
Today, you can not only visit the Rose Tree Museum and learn about this impressive Scottish Tree that started from a small clipping, but you will also learn about the history of the Tombstone and the Robertson-Macia family. Before you exit the Museum to visit the tree in the patio area, you can walk through the first floor of the boarding house and check out several historical collections, as well as dioramas of both the Lucky Cuss Mine and the notorious Gunfight at the OK Corral. Admission is only $5 with children under 14 free.
From there, walk out into the patio area and prepare to be amazed by what the 138-year-old tree looks like today. The gnarled tree trunk measures about 14 feet in diameter and the tree’s canopy, still supported by the wood and metal trellis system that James Macia created almost a century ago, provides more than 8,000 square feet of shade. And, if you are so inclined, they also offer two suites that you can book and extend your stay here as Robert Ripley did in 1934, only in modern comfort. Each suite has two doors, one that leads to the boardwalk out front and the other that leads to the patio area where you can sit under the shade of the Rose Tree and sip your favorite beverage. Each suite also has a king bed, modern amenities (microwave, refrigerator, ice maker, Wi-Fi), and a private bathroom and shower.
This is one amazing tree with quite the history and is a must-see when visiting old Tombstone. It has seen so much in its time, if only it could talk. Oh, the stories it could tell. The Rose Tree Museum and Suites is located at 118 E 4th Street at the corner of E Toughnut Street (man, I love that name) in Historic Tombstone. You can visit their web page for more information or book a reservation in one of their suites.
With that, we will wrap things up for another week’s travels. Let’s get back on the magic bus (anyone else hearing The Who’s famous song of the same name playing) and make our way north on Interstate 10 heading home to the Phoenix west valley, as we deliver you safely back home. We thank you for riding along with us on our weekly travels and look forward to your joining us again on next week’s trip to another amazing place in the Great State 48.
Until then, please be sure to comment on our articles, share our posts with your friends and family, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Linked In to have our other posts and photos delivered directly to your newsfeeds. Peace!
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