Griffin Tutors

About Griffin

An interesting fact that puts Griffin, Georgia, on the map is that western figure John Henry “Doc” Holliday was born there and lived there for the first thirteen years of his life. After graduating from dental school at the ripe old age of twenty, Holliday moved back to Griffin to establish a dental practice. However, a diagnosis of tuberculosis and a prognosis of three months to live thwarted his plans. Possibly for the drier weather, but maybe because of his temper and tussles with the law, Holliday moved to the Southwest. That’s when his life got interesting, to say the least.

Holliday resumed his dental practice in Dallas, initially with a partner, but when that practice dissolved and he went solo, he found his coughing spells affected his work and scared away customers. His dental business declined, and he turned to gambling to support himself. After several moves and more than a few fights, he befriended Wyatt Earp, and then joined him and brothers Virgil and Morgan Earp in confronting a group of outlaw cowboys. Virgil was Deputy U.S. Marshal as well as City Marshal of Tombstone, Arizona. The resulting thirty-second shoot-out is generally considered the American Wild West’s most famous shootout (although it wasn’t well known until a 1931 fictionalized biography of Wyatt Earp and several related films came out). The violent drama continued for months, with loss of life on both sides of the feud. Holliday ended up in Colorado and died there of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-six.

Despite being a gambler and rather colorful character, Holliday is still romanticized in modern-day Griffin. Visitors to Griffin can pick up a brochure for a self-guided driving tour of the places in town that were part of Holliday’s life, including his family home, his dental office, the grave site of his sister, Martha Eleanora Holliday Grave, who died as an infant, and his own grave site. Also marked are the historical county courthouse, the Presbyterian Church, and Camp Stephens.

Griffin takes Holliday’s celebrity one step further and each year puts on several events named after him.

- The Doc Holliday Beer, Wine & Arts Festival features more than seventy-five craft beers, ciders, and wines, a mustache contest, and local artists selling their wares. Proceeds benefit local projects and a variety of charities.

- The Doc Holliday BBQ & Blues Festival, hosted in historic downtown Griffin in conjunction with the western-themed Mid-Georgia Doc Holliday Festival, featuring a Georgia BBQ Association-sanctioned barbecue contest with three categories (best pork loin, pulled pork, and pork rib) and $10,000 in prizes and a blues concert. There are also contests for wings, sauces, and desserts.

Whether Holliday’s gunslinging feats were fact or fable, his reputation for loyalty and deep friendships and his gentlemanly manners make Holliday a worthy subject to be called Griffin’s native son.