For reasons unknown, I have recently become facinated by US History, especially pertaining to the Old West from about 1860 to 1890. This summer I went on a road trip through parts of Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota and was able to visit a number of historic sites, such as the Little Bighorn battleground and the town of Deadwood, SD, but no ghost towns.
My question is this:
Are there any partially restored western towns from that era that look close to what they would have looked like during that era? I’ve read about some ghost towns that have a few run down structures, but they are just tourist traps and they have paved streets running through them, which is obviously not authentic to that era.
So are there any authentic restored western towns that you would recommend seeing?
I’ll second Bodie. I was there this summer, and it’s really interesting. I happened to show up on a reinactment day, so there were people in period costume all over, which isn’t usually the case. It turned out that we knew the mule driver - small world. It’s worth going to, that’s for sure.
I went there in January this year - my pics are here. There really isn’t an awful lot to see there, it’s all abandoned and derelict buildings in various states of disrepair which is pretty much what you’d expect from a ghost town! There was an exhibition of sculptures there as well which looked very out of place in the setting, but it was an interesting expereince.
I think the most striking thing was just standing in the middle of what was the main street and just looking around and seeing absolutely nothing in terms of habitation for miles around. It was amazingly silent too, which was a welcome change from the incessant din of Vegas!
This is how I imagine it. When I lived in the desert I liked to drive my Jeep up into the foothills and just look over the valley. Very scenic and quiet.
I’ve just remembered C.W. McCall’s Ghost Town. That’s not McCall’s recording, but there are lots of nice photos in the video.
I stopped into the old mining town of Independence, CO (near Aspen) in August. You need to park on top and walk down into the valley; there are no paved roads running through it. I don’t usually visit ghost towns so I really don’t have much to compare it to, but it was interesting. Most of the buildings are long gone, but a few are still standing.
Maybe less authentic then you’re looking for, but Virginia and Nevada City, MT are billed as a “living history museum,” with a lot of very well-preserved wild west buildings and artifacts. There’s a refurbished steam engine from 1910 that you can take rides on!
I worked there for a summer and it’s a great place.
Jerome and Virginia City have some great history and interesting buildings, but on the weekend, they’re anything but “ghost” towns. I’d say they are comparable to Tombstone in that regard.
Walking around Rhyolite, you really do feel like you’re out in the middle of nowhere. Even the Bullfrog gold mine on the other side of the mountain is abandoned now. (That’s good for the old bottle house–the vibrations from the operation were shaking it apart.)
Berlin in central Nevada is REALLY out in the middle of nowhere. It’s worth a trip to see not only the town, but the excellent Ichthyosaur display just down the (dirt) road.
Kelso is worth a visit these days more for the restored train depot. The park service has turned it into a really nice interpretive center for the Mojave National Preserve. Farther south in the Mojave, the Randsburg/Johannesburg/Red Mountain “complex” has a definite ghost town feel to it.
At Bodie, the buildings aren’t really restored–the policy is one of “benign neglect”. A ranger told me that they only do maintenance to keep stuff from falling over. The main mine building would be amazing to check out, but they’ve got it all fenced off.
There are abandoned crossroad “towns” all over the southwest that ran out of money or couldn’t attract enough tourists to say alive. All that’s left anymore are just abandoned buildings that are falling down and the detrius of the people’s lives. Great stuff for photographs.
I toured Tropico Gold Mine when I lived in the desert. It was very interesting. Unfortunately, tours were stopped a long time ago. I understand that the buildings are unsafe for tourists. Films and TV shows are still shot there though. I envy the owners, being able to explore it whenever they want. Too bad they can’t get some sort of historical grant to make it safe and allow the public back in.
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