Benson: Culture and Film History

Benson offers several distinct ways to explore during a stay: local history, murals, film locations, golf, and stargazing. The historic walking tour covers the city’s architecture and its people. There are also places where railroad history, film productions, and local collections can each be explored in a different way. This lets you decide when planning your trip whether to focus on a walking tour, a guided tour, or exhibitions.

Local History, Murals, and Museum

Another historic thread is Benson’s former role as a railroad shipping point for Tombstone and Bisbee. In the heart of the historic downtown stands the Benson Visitor Center, a replica of a railroad depot. The railroad connection is reflected both in Benson’s historical role and in the design of this visitor center.

The mural tour features 42 murals decorating local businesses throughout downtown. Their subjects range from historical aspects of the city and Cochise County to local desert flora and fauna. The murals thus connect local history with nature. If you are interested in a particular aspect, the varied subjects offer a different perspective alongside the historic walking tour.

The Benson Historical Museum displays artifacts originally from Benson and the surrounding area, as well as indoor and outdoor exhibits. Its visiting days and hours vary by season, so check them for your travel dates. The walking tour, murals, and museum each offer a different focus: architecture and city life, imagery throughout downtown, or locally sourced collection pieces.

Film History with Different Visiting Conditions

The Mescal Movie Set is a film town depicting the 1880s. It served as a filming location for “Tombstone,” “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” and “The Quick and the Dead,” among more than 100 other Western productions. Historic film tours are possible there only between film productions. Take this scheduling limitation into account when planning and ask about the possible visiting period.

Gammon’s Gulch offers another connection to film history. The Western town has 17 fully functional, furnished buildings reconstructed to portray the Wild West era. It has already been the setting for more than 65 film productions and welcomes visitors on guided walking tours. Compared with the Mescal Movie Set, the focus here is on the reconstructed buildings and guided tour of the Western town. Check the latest information about tours before your visit.

Golf, Stargazing, and Historic Ruins

The San Pedro Golf Course is a public 18-hole championship course owned and operated by the City of Benson. Its two nines differ in their landscapes: the first nine holes run through mesquite groves along the San Pedro River, while the back nine pass through canyons. The course description thus identifies two clearly distinct sections within the same round—groves by the river on one hand and canyons on the other.

The Butterfield Observatory welcomes out-of-town visitors for a fee of US$5.00; overnight guests at the park have free admission. Its facilities include a Meade LX-200 GPS 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope in a 15-foot-diameter electrically operated dome. Since access policies and facility details may change, check the current conditions before visiting.

Another historic site is the ruins of the Butterfield Overland Mail Station, which you can explore on a self-guided walking tour. This means that self-guided explorations are also an option alongside guided tours.

Discover more destinations: Sierra Vista, Willcox, Tombstone, Douglas, Bisbee.

See the broader travel overview: Cochise County.