Chiricahua National Monument and Chiricahua Mountains B & B Headquarters!

Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed and Breakfast
*B & B *Collector's Gift Shop
*Wine-Tasting
*Private Museum
and
*World-Class Hiking at the Chiricahua National Monument Wonderland of Rocks
*Hiking on the original Butterfield Stage Trail at Ft. Bowie National Historic Site

***Collector's Gift Shop, Wine-Tasting and Private Museum are open only to guests and not to the general public.***


New! Enjoy exclusive shopping in our Collector's Gift Shop, at wholesale prices, from Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat B & B in our gift shop and private Wine-Tasting right here at Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed and Breakfast!

For Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat B & B guests only, shop for Collector's Gifts such as Mata Ortiz pottery, authentic Native American jewelry and art prints, sculpture, and old-west antiques, and enjoy a private tour of our museum. Also for our guests only, wine-taste delicious wine from the local wineries in the Willcox area, which is fast becoming the "in" place to enjoy wine.

  Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed and Breakfast is the Chiricahua Mountains and Chiricahua National Monument bed and breakfast headquarters, perfectly situated about half-way between Willcox, AZ and the Chiricahua National Monument. We are located in the serene Dos Cabezas Mountains 14 miles southeast of Willcox, Arizona. Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed and Breakfast guest lodging in the historic Dos Cabezas ghost town is located about a quarter mile off of Hwy. 186, and our bed and breakfast is only twenty-five minutes to the mystical Chiricahua National Monument and Mountains, a favorite for hiking and sight-seeing. We serve your breakfast in plenty of time for you to ride the shuttle van from the Monument Visitor's Center to the top of the Wonderland of Rocks where you can hike back down to your car. We are the newest of the bed and breakfasts inns near Willcox, AZ, and the famous Willcox Playa, home to the wintering Sandhill Cranes. Dos Cabezas B & B is your first stop from Willcox for lodging or bed and breakfasts near the Chiricahua Mountains. 

Recently, we were honored to have as guests at our B & B an award-winning and world-famous film crew from the Discovery Channel who were filming the wintering Sandhill Cranes in our area. This major series, WILD PLANET: NORTH AMERICA, is larger in scope and breadth than the series Planet Earth. This new series will air in 2012. We are all looking forward to it!
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NEW! We are honored that Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed and Breakfast has been chosen as a tour on the Wings Over Willcox birding festival schedule of events for January 2012. Registration for Wings Over Willcox begins September 1, 2011. 

Please visit their website at www.wingsoverwillcox.com to register. 
In the News!Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed and Breakfast is also proud to donate lodging each year to the Wings Over Willcox guest speaker. We serve on the WOW committee and enjoy being able to contribute in this way. The 2012 guest speaker isTed Floyd! For all the information about our guest speaker for 2012, please visit wingsoverwillcox.com. Here's the info for the WOW tour of our historical bed and breakfast.

The Story of Dos Cabezas    
Meet at WCC:   12:50 PM  Return:   4:30 PM  $35.00   
Tour the historical Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat B&B, lodging for the WOW guest speaker, as your tour guides recount the history of the one hundred year-old-plus adobe building used by the infamous T.N. McCauley as ?The Hostess House? to wine and dine prospects asked to invest in the legendary Mascot Mine. Enjoy birding at the B&B, recent hosts to The Discovery Channel filming for a nature series to be televised in 2012. We will narrate the evolution of the wildlife habitats the past one hundred years, the history of the Dos Cabezas Pioneer Cemetery, and the Butterfield Stage trail. Then to the Dos Cabezas Mountain Gallery to shop from award-winning artists and enjoy treats of hot cider and Grandma Flick's cookies.
Walking: Easy to moderate walking for short distances.
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Includes: Rest stops

Trip Leaders: Jon Samuelson   Detail   Carol Wien   Detail  

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UPDATE:
WE MADE THE NEWS!
ARIZONA RANGE NEWS
PUBLISHED JANUARY 18, 2012


The Dos Cabezas Trio, from left, Carol Wien on the autoharp, Jon Samuelson on guitar, and Walter Wien on the harmonica, play "Wildwood Flower" and other songs for participants of the "Story of Dos Cabezas" tour on Saturday during the Wings Over Willcox Birding Festival. They performed in the Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed and Breakfast in Dos Cabezas. (Ainslee Wittig/ARN)

With this year's festival just a month prior to the centennial of Arizona's statehood on Feb. 14, 1912, WOW committee members and volunteers planned "a spectacular festival with a Centennial theme." The tours and seminars highlighted Arizona from 100 years ago, with the theme of how things were in the Sulphur Springs Valley during this time period. 
There were three new seminars, "Willcox 1800 to Statehood," "Paving the Way to Statehood," and "Geronimo, the General, and the Hummingbird," and two new tours, "History of Willcox Playa," and "The Story of Dos Cabezas." "The Story of Dos Cabezas," which included history of the former mining and now ghost town by Jon Samuelson, owner of the historical Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed & Breakfast, along with its history as a "Hostess House" of the infamous T.N. McCauley, who wined and dined prospects as he asked then to invest in the legendary Mascot Mine. Samuelson also narrated the human-caused evolution of area wildlife habitats the past one hundred years. Carol Wien, a fourth-generation rancher in Dos Cabezas and co-author of "The Story of Dos Cabezas" with Phyllis de la Garza, told the history of ranching in Dos Cabezas, the Dos Cabezas Pioneer Cemetery, and the Butterfield Stage trail. Some notes from the two history lessons:

  • B&B owners Jon and Charmayne Samuelson bought the Dos Cabezas Ranch House from artists/instrument makers Paul and Mary Duncan. The house has been continually lived-in since the 1800s. They have two rooms for guests and a museum inside.
  • With 4,000 people in its mining heyday, Dos Cabezas, an Arizona Ghost Town, now has 29 people. After the Gold Rush started in 1848, and the Birch and Butterfield mail routes ran through Ewell Station near Ewell Springs, gold quartz was discovered in the area.
  • Dos Cabezas Mining District was formed, but was incorrectly spelled as 'Dos Cabezos' in 1879, and not changed until 1925, "which made my Grandma mad," said Carol Wien.
  • In 1906, Captain Tibby and Mr. Page (who suddenly becomes 'T.N. McCauley') arrived to buy mining claims. Despite the fact that McCauley, "was quite a scam artist," he was loved by many for his wining and dining ways and built the town up with a school, power plant, a tramway to the mine, and a railroad spur - the Mascot and Western.

    A particular treat was hearing the Dos Cabezas Trio: siblings Carol and Robert Wien and John Samuelson, played several tunes with their autoharp, harmonica and guitar, respectively. The group also visited the Dos Cabezas Mountain Gallery to shop from award-winning artists, visit with Jim Turner, author of "Arizona: A Celebration of the Grand Canyon State," and enjoy treats of hot cider and cookies.
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    Looking forward to retirement:
    As the years fly by, we have come to realize that it's time for us to retire and we look forward to traveling ourselves, and spending more time with friends and relatives. We are offering our bed and breakfast for sale. We have to say as owners of our beautiful property that it's an experience of a lifetime......without a doubt the best lifestyle one could ever imagine! Please contact us at:
    IWantToStay@doscabezasretreat.com for information. All future reservations and commitments will be honored. Check out the details at the following link.
    http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/InnsForSale/az-willcox-7447.html 

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    Dos Cabezas is a village named after the striking twin-peaked mountains (the English translation is two heads) that rise above the village. The Retreat's setting is secluded and private, a perfect get-away for any time of the year.

     Mountainsfromproperty DosCabezasThanksgiving

     View of Dos Cabezas Mountains from our B & B.        The holidays at Dos Cabezas

    The bed and breakfast private guestrooms, the Pioneer Room and the Kachina Room, are furnished with comfy sleeping accommodations, and we serve a country breakfast with fresh fruit, or you may choose a self-serve continental breakfast. Please check the rates and policies page for the rates. Special dietary restrictions can be accommodated with advance notice. Your stay at our bed and breakfast is quiet and serene. We do not require a two-night minimum, and your stay is private lodging in a separate guest house from the owner's residence.

            bedroomandmirror
                               Live an AZ legend in our historic adobe.                 

    You will have a microwave, toaster, coffee pot, small under-counter refrigerator, paper plates, and utensils to use for meals other than breakfasts. Bring any other food items you wish to microwave or warm up. Please note there is not a cooktop, nor cooking facilities or barbeque grills of any kind. No outdoor fires of any nature allowed.

                            CasitaHospitality1

                                     Breakfast and Leisure Room.

    Privacy, anonymity, space, and quietness are all major draws for our guests. The country guest house, casita, and the owner's residence are authentic and historical adobe homes from the late 1800's. Our rustic retreat is your home base for premier birding and nature viewing, peaceful meditation, astronomy, hiking in the nearby Chiricahua mountains or the historical site of Ft. Bowie, photography, picking fruit at local peach and apple orchards and vegetable farms, and ghost towning. Our elevation is about 5,200 feet, just right for picture-perfect spring and fall weather, and for moderate summers and winters, and for your geo-tourism and eco-tourism adventures. The guest house shown above is dated from the mid-1800's and is rich in history. Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed and Breakfast is committed to the ongoing preservation of the historical integrity of these priceless adobe homes. 

    In its early days, the village of Dos Cabezas was far from serene. This was Apache country, homeland of Cochise and Geronimo, two well-known Apache leaders of the 1800's. In the late 1850's, the area was first known as Ewell Springs, a watering stop on the Overland Trail, the main route of the Birch Stage Line and then later the Butterfield Stage Line. Indigenous Native Americans had been first to cherish the springs as a precious water supply in the arid Arizona climate. Ewell Springs was the next available water after leaving Apache Springs and the infamous and dangerous Apache Pass near where Fort Bowie was constructed. In 1879 the Dos Cabezas Post Office was opened, and Ewell Springs became known as Dos Cabezas.

    Many characters of the Old West have passed through and lived in this unique village. Big Nose Kate, a partner to Doc Holliday until his passing, later made her home in Dos Cabezas for about 30 years.

    But the most famous character of all was T.N. McCauley, an entrepreneur and owner of the Mascot Mine, and a previous owner of the property now known as Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed and Breakfast! You will live legendary history when you stay in the Retreat's guest rooms in the Pioneer House, known in McCauley's day as the "Hospitality House." Here McCauley wined and dined prospective clients who bought shares in his copper mine. He was adored by the area's residents even though he had a flamboyant lifestyle. The story is recounted in the most fascinating book, The Story of Dos Cabezas, by Carol Wien and Phyllis de la Garza.

    Then in the late 1960's and 1970's, Dos Cabezas was home to wandering hippies and you can see some of their brightly- colored "offerings," the old hippy bus just off the highway, which still seems to be hangin' in there! 

    Today, Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat B & B is a great home base from which to explore and experience the historical and contemporary treasures of the area. A short 10-minute drive takes you to the famous Willcox Twin Lakes birding site and the Willcox Playa, which are home base of the Wings over Willcox Birding Festival. It's a gorgeous 20-minute drive to the Chiricahua National Monument on the west side of the Chiricahua Mountains, and it's only about a 25-minute drive to the trailhead of historic Fort Bowie. World-class birding surrounds us and the Chiricahua Mountains. And 15 minutes into Willcox you will find the rich history of the Rex Allen Museum, the Marty Robbins Museum, and the Chiricahua Regional Museum which document local pre-history, history and the cowboy and ranching way of life. It is also an easy drive to famous Tombstone and Bisbee.

    Willcox has become known as the best place in southern Arizona for "pick your own" fruit and nut orchards and vegetable farms, such as the world-famous Apple Annie's Fruit and Produce Farms. Our area is rapidly establishing a reputation for quality vineyards and wine-tasting. There are several new wine-tasting rooms in Willcox.

    All this and much more await your visit! As you browse our website, you will find additional information, birding lists, and tourist attractions. If you are looking for peace, nature, and the opportunity to experience the Old West the way it really was in a rustic setting, you will like our Retreat. We look forward to meeting you and hope that you will have a wonderful stay at Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat Bed and Breakfast and our surrounding area!

                         Dos Cabezas Spirit and Nature Retreat
                                          Bed andBreakfast                    
                                            1-520-384-6474
      
     
     Please review our rates/policies page for rates and check-in and check-out times. We do not accept pets or allow smoking. We offer gift certificates for future stays - which make really terrific birthday, anniversary and holiday gifts!

                                                   Advance Reservations required.
     

                       All photos on this website © Jon Samuelson

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