Whiskey Row is the single most haunted block in Prescott, and it earned that the hard way: the Great Fire of July 1900 leveled the wooden saloons, patrons famously carried the Palace's bar across the street to Courthouse Plaza and kept drinking while the block burned, and the brick Row that rose from the ashes has been collecting stories ever since. Our Prescott Ghost Tour walks it nightly at 7 PM, a ghost tour that walks every night of the week.
The Palace Saloon and the Phantom Cowboy
The Palace on Montezuma Street is Arizona's oldest saloon, a onetime gathering place whose regulars included the era's gamblers, lawmen and everyone in between. Bartenders and staff report glasses that move on their own and a figure regulars have long called the Phantom Cowboy. Stand at the bar the patrons saved from the 1900 fire and the past does not feel especially past.
The hotels above and around the Row
Whiskey Row's hauntings do not stop at the saloon doors. A block away, the 1927 Hassayampa Inn keeps the story of Faith, the bride associated with Room 426. Hotel St. Michael anchors the Row's corner with a century of guests, some more permanent than others, and the Hotel Vendome's Room 16 comes with a resident named Abby. We cover all of them on the tour, and the hotels themselves are worth a daylight visit.
Walk it with the people who did the research
The Prescott Ghost Tour departs nightly at 7 PM from Courthouse Plaza at the Rough Rider statue: 14 stops, about a mile, adults $29. If you would rather meet the Row in daylight, the Prescott History Tour walks it every morning at 10 AM and tells the territorial-capital story straight.
Questions people ask
Why is it called Whiskey Row?
By the 1890s the block of Montezuma Street facing Courthouse Plaza was packed with dozens of saloons standing shoulder to shoulder, and the name stuck. After the Great Fire of 1900 the Row rebuilt in brick, and its saloon row character never left.
Is the Palace Saloon really haunted?
The Palace is Arizona's oldest saloon and Prescott's most storied address for unexplained activity: staff report moving glasses and a recurring figure known as the Phantom Cowboy. It is a signature stop on our nightly ghost tour, and yes, you can go in for a drink afterward.
Did they really carry the bar out of the fire?
Yes. When the Great Whiskey Row Fire broke out in July 1900, patrons hauled the Palace's ornate bar across the street to Courthouse Plaza and resumed drinking while the block burned behind them. The bar stands in the rebuilt Palace today.
What nights does the Whiskey Row ghost tour run?
Nightly at 7 PM, every night of the week, departing from Courthouse Plaza at the Rough Rider statue. We are the Prescott ghost tour with departures every night of the week, not just weekends.
