Southern Agenda

The Doc Is In


Long before Doc Holliday cemented his notoriety in the saloons of the Wild West—most notably during the shootout at the O.K. Corral in 1881—the outlaw was much more likely to be slinging forceps than pistols at his dental practice in quaint Griffin, Georgia. “We’re not really a tourist destination,” says Cindy Jones, president and CEO of the Griffin-Spalding Chamber of Commerce. “But we’ve had a lot of people come from overseas and stateside to see where Doc Holliday grew up.” A self-guided driving tour includes Tinsley Street, where the young John Henry Holliday may have spent his early years, the location of the Presbyterian church (now a fire station) where he was baptized, the site of the dental practice where he earned his nickname, and the cemetery where he’s rumored to rest. And on September 7, the tenth annual Doc Holliday Festival will fete the city’s native son with live music, horse rides, a beauty pageant, a barbecue competition, and, not surprisingly, reenactments of some of Holliday’s most infamous gunfights.

dochollidayfest.com