Ghost Towns

[markg91359]

An interesting ghost town that I can recommend is the town of Rhyolite, Nevada. Its just outside of Beatty, Nevada on the way to Death Valley National Park. The land the town sits on is owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM is anxious to avoid people doing further damage to the buildings, so it has fenced most of the abandoned structures in the town off. However, what remains is impressive. There's a bank, a school, a railroad station. If you are on your way to Death Valley, take the time to pull off the road and see Rhyolite.

[Summerz]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

Here is a link to a great photojournal of ghost towns around the world. Only one mentioned in this thread, Bodie, is on the list. Very melancholy.

Some great pics there.

I especially liked this site.http://designshed.com/lostamerica/

[ABQConvict]

I think of New Mexico but that is because I live here near a bunch of ghost towns.

My favorite ghost town in the world is Pripyat, Ukraine because it was a large, recognizably modern city suddenly depopulated. Quite unique in that respect.


ABQConvict

[6 FOOT 3]

Originally Posted by CelticViking

Similar to the wild west/outlaw topic...We all know that Ghost Towns were made popular by the wild west/cowboy/outlaw era...We all know when thinking of Ghost Towns we think of the west from the northwest to the southwest...What state makes you think of ghost towns? Where would you think most would be located? Just your own personal thoughts...no need for primarily factual info.

You may be surprised that alot of them have been ''re-inhabited'' by artists etc. as that's the case of many of them here in New Mexico. The coolest one i've visited was White Oaks in south central New Mexico in the Capitan Mountains as it was a large mining town back in the late 1800's.

A couple notes of interest about it and that is where Billy the Kid was holed up in the Alexander Mcsween house as the army had surrounded him and his gang trying to arrest them and so they burned the house down but he escaped. Lots of cool old buildings and also i visited the old graveyard there and i noticed some of the headstones and how they mentioned how many of the people had died i.e. in an mine explosion and some others who were soldiers in the US Army who were killed by Apaches (mescalero) near by.

However my biggest surprise was to find the headstone of Susan Mcsween who died and was buried there in 1931 as she was one of the most powerful woman in America during the late 1800's as a prominant cattlewoman as she was known as the ''Cattle Queen of the West'' as she controlled the movement of millions of head of cattle thru New Mexico over to Arizona back during the time .

[skinem]

It has surprised me what's happened to White Oaks. My father is from that area and back in the '50s and '60s, who'da thunk it?

It is a neat area full of abandoned communities, ranches, farmsteads.

[6 FOOT 3]

Originally Posted by skinem

It is a neat area full of abandoned communities, ranches, farmsteads.

Yeap it sure is however sadly the town of Lincoln nearby has become the equivalent of Tombstone, Arizona as it's inundated with tourists from all over

[skinem]

Originally Posted by 6 FOOT 3

Yeap it sure is however sadly the town of Lincoln nearby has become the equivalent of Tombstone, Arizona as it's inundated with tourists from all over

Yeah, that's how I feel about it, too.
Again, who'da thunk it?
My dad always said his hometown was a good place to be from. Of course, he was a child of the depression and I think a LOT of small town America was struggling and many of the communities dying.

Another factor that helped kill towns and create ghost towns was the mechanization of farming. You just don't need many people to operate a large farm today. We seem to have many plains towns today that are in the process of becoming ghost towns.