Oatman, Arizona is one of the stops along historic Route 66 that you will definitely not want to miss. This historic mining town offers some kitschy but also seemingly authentic wild west experiences. 

More than 500,000 visitors are drawn annually to Oatman’s gold mine history as well as the legend of its namesake. 

Olive Oatman was kidnapped by a Native American tribe, then sold her to another local tribe more friendly to the invading Europeans before being freed to her family near what became Oatman. While she was kidnapped her face was tattooed and there are photos of her in several places in town. 

Here are nine reasons to visit the namesake town of Olive Oatman along historic Route 66. 

Donkeys

Today the town is best known for the donkeys which walk the streets hoping for a snack. Plenty of the shops sell bags of healthy treats that the donkeys can eat but they also might go for your other items such as bags of candy and such. Obviously you shouldn’t feed them anything other than the food intended for them but they can sometimes be aggressive. 

Apparently they also have a taste for carrots but signs all over town admonish your feeding these to them. 

The donkeys are well known to the towns folk who are also rather protective of them. They are pretty docile but if they feel like blocking traffic, they do. Some are even on the twisty road getting to the town so drive carefully and slow down. The views are beautiful. 

Sidewinder Route 66

Getting to town is done over eight miles of very twisty, hilly two-lane driving. This is not the place to take a large RV and I would caution against any towable along this road. There are a reported 191 curves and turns on the road according to a sign and I have no doubt that this figure is accurate. 

As such we stayed at a great Boondockers Welcome site and then took the truck up the road without the trailer. Our host was very gracious and their land was beautiful with outstanding vistas. We continue to remain big fans of Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome. We did see someone torturing a poor Subaru by coaxing it to haul an rPod up the road. I wouldn’t advise this, although there are several working mines along the way and they get their heavy equipment up there somehow. 

Mines

Like so much of the historic west there is a lot of history of mining in Oatman. The town was rather small until gold was discovered in 1908 at which point the population swelled and the town became more famous. By 1916 over two hundred mines were operating in the area and the town had swelled to over 2,000 people. 

By the start of WWII the last of the gold mines were shuttered as being nonessential to the war effort and the town started a downhill slide. 

There is still at least one former mine you can walk through right in the heart of town with mining equipment and other historic items scattered outside the mine itself. The mine is not very deep but still is an interesting peek into the town’s past. Plus, it’s free to walk through. 

Historic Honeymoon

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard allegedly honeymooned at the 1902 two-story adobe Oatman Hotel after marrying in nearby Kingman. Some say the lovebirds’ spirits as well as other former lodgers still vacation there. The hotel remains open as a museum and restaurant.

You can climb the sketchy stairs of the old hotel and tour the second floor including peering through the window at the honeymoon suite. That room’s principal feature is an old bed with a lace cover but there’s also an old record player and a few additional knick knacks to ponder. Were these things there when the famous couple started their life together in marital bliss? Who knows. 

What I do know is that there’s an upstairs gift shop with lots of funny t-shirts and Route 66 memorabilia along with plenty of leather clothing with Harley Davidson branding. 

The Rock Shop

At the far end of town is a really extensive rock shop with geodes, sandstone and a lot of other types of beautiful rocks. My personal favorite was the selenite lamps. Some creative person carved these translucent stones so that you could put a small bulb in the recess of the bottom of that and create a lamp. 

According to the shopkeeper these also had healing properties. I can’t attest to that but I do wish I had bought one now. They were cool. 

The Candy Shop

At the other end of town is an air conditioned candy shop that is a throw back to the olden days of candy shops. There are a number of selections that are made right in Oatman but there’s a huge selection of what used to be called “penny candy.” These bowls full of wrapped treats can be combined in bags that are available and you buy the pieces by the pound. No worries about mixing and matching. 

We got root beer candy, sesame candy, Boston Baked Beans and even some hot cinnamon candies. There were easily 100 choices in this wall of candy and we ended-up with a couple of pounds of goodness in a wide assortment. 

Other shops

As you carefully walk along the historic wooden sidewalks of Oatman there are no shortage of t-shirt shops, leather shops and other places to buy souvenirs of your stay in this quaint mining spot along Route 66. 

The best part is that many of the shops’ names and merchandise are a nod to the donkeys and have merchandise and names reflective of a colorful take on those famous critters. 

Some of the merchants even have their own t-shirt printing facilities so if you like a specific shirt but it’s not immediately available in your size they can accommodate you in short order. 

What about food?

There are two bars in the town, one a crowded downstairs bar in the hotel and the other just a bar. We didn’t eat in either but you could smell the smell of food being fried in the hotel. If you’re looking for healthy choices I’m not sure this is the place to be but we didn’t sit at the crowded bar either. 

However that bar along with the adjacent ice cream shop is covered in dollar bills with dollar bills hanging down from the ceiling and papering the walls. We did get ice cream which is Thrifty ice cream, always a favorite. 

Shootings

Several times a day there is a gun fight right on the streets of Oatman with two outlaws humorously trying to rob the ATM in town. The show is pretty funny and the gunslingers are good at involving the audience with cheers and jeers as they work out who gets to keep the gold. 

The show is free but they pass the hat for Shriner’s Hospitals which is a very worthy cause. The donkeys watch the show too, I guess they’re using to the gunfire. This is a mining town in Arizona, after all.

Oatman is surrounded by Bureau of Land Management wilderness, which is also home to desert bighorn sheep. Outdoor activities include hiking, camping, hunting, photography, and rock climbing.

I really enjoyed the trip up the mountain along Route 66 to see the historic town of Oatman, the donkeys and the funny gun fighters.