Others were once capital cities ravaged by nature and fate. These skeletons of the past could be sets for the next Coen Brothers Western, and at least one has already inspired a chilling horror flick. Hell, some ghost towns are reported to have literal ghosts roaming through the wreckage. Once bustling with riches and rascals, these 14 hamlets are now eerily desolate. You can visit most of them today, but be careful what you touch. Many are so perfectly preserved—furniture, dishes, and more exactly where they were left—that they feel like dusty time capsules from a century ago.
All that glitters may not be gold, but it can still make you a fortune. They formed what was then called the Utah Copper Company in Within a few years, and with the help of J. The iconic red mill on the hill spans 14 stories above a glacier and can be explored by visitors who take the official Kennecott Mill Town Tour. Getting the right coverage for your budget — with no secrets required — means more to spend on your preferred adventure.
Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Founded in , St. Elmo was once a highfalutin gold mining town and popular whistle-stop on the Pacific Railroad. It boasted almost 2, residents and more than mines —plus enough inns and dance halls to keep everybody in town happily cutting a rug.
When the Alpine Tunnel closed in , however, the music stopped. With the price of silver already down, the last remaining rail service stopped in The dedicated few that stuck around suffered another loss 30 years later when the postmaster died and postal service was discontinued, further sequestering them from civilization.
Despite numerous fires charring the canyon over the years, St. Several original structures are still intact, providing an unfiltered glimpse into life during the mining boom one big exception is the town hall, which had to be rebuilt in following a particularly destructive blaze. Most tourists stop in during warmer months when St.
Elmo comes to life, but some prefer to visit in the wintertime when roads and trails are truly abandoned. Like a straight-up Western movie set, Bodie is one of the most famous and the largest unreconstructed ghost towns in America. Established in when William S.
Bodey discovered gold in the area, the original camp of around 20 miners mushroomed to some 10, during the California Gold Rush—roughly the same population as Los Angeles. By , the town consisted of 2, buildings , including roughly restaurants. As the gold vanished, though, so did the townsfolk. By , the last mine had shut down.
Today the town is a National Historic Site protected by the California parks system. Inns still contain pool tables complete with balls and cues, plus assorted chairs and cutlery, resting exactly where they were left more than half a century ago, and some store shelves remain stocked with goods no, they're not for sale.
Visitors should be sure to arrive during regular park hours with admission cash in hand; during the summer, guests can take guided tours through the Standard Mill for an inside look at the gold-extraction process. It remained for years a hub of cotton distribution. During the Civil War, it was home of the Confederate Castle Morgan prison, where thousands of Union soldiers were kept between and —when another massive flood started driving people out for good.
By the early s, most buildings had been demolished, too. Guests can take self-guided tours of the major Civil War sites, the cemetery, and a woodsy nature trail; and no visitor should leave without seeing the Crocheron Columns , the only remaining parts of the Crocheron Mansion where important negotiations were made during the Battle of Selma. Former home of the famous frontierswoman Calamity Jane, this old gold-mining town est. As a result, robberies and murders were the norm, and gangs of outlaws known as road agents killed people between and alone.
Still, Virginia City briefly served as the capital of the Montana Territory before it was a state , and grew to a population of around 10, When gold ran out, though, the city lost momentum and became the Victorian-era time capsule it still is today. A number of tours provide visitors with whatever experience suits their interests best: Want ghost stories? Fascinated by trains? Great Plains states such as Kansas, Oklahoma and the Dakotas have the ruins of farming communities destroyed by the Dust Bowl and economic downturns of the s.
In recent decades, heritage tourism has given some ghost towns a second chance to thrive, attracting visitors from around the world. Named by German prospectors who came looking for gold, Berlin was a company mining town.
Established in the s, the town was largely abandoned by the s after the mine closed in response to strike action. The well-preserved structures are now part of Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, known for fossil discoveries of a prehistoric marine mammal. Nearest city Hawthorne, NV. The mines were depleted by and the town largely abandoned.
Since the s, the town has become an increasingly popular tourist destination. Nearest city McCarthy, AK. It also served as a prison during the Civil War, then became a quarantine station and a navy refuelling point before it was abandoned in due to hurricane damage. Fort Jefferson has been a National Monument since and is open to tourists.
It continues to be the largest brick structure in the U. Nearest city Key West, FL. In the s Garnet was a thriving mining town with a population of over a thousand served by up to 13 saloons. The community emptied as miners left for World War I. A revival of gold mining in the s was halted by World War II, and the town has been abandoned ever since.
Around 30 buildings remain today, and an annual Garnet Day allows visitors to experience life in this 19th-century mining town. Nearest city Missoula, MT. Established as a mining camp in , Bodie boomed after sizable gold discoveries during the s. The town was in decline by the s; the newspaper ceased publication in , and the railway was abandoned in The last mine closed in as dynamite and other resources were redirected towards the war effort.
Today, the town is open to visitors with around structures still standing. Nearest city Bridgeport, CA. This well-preserved ghost town attracted over 2, residents by the s, when gold and silver mining were at their peak.
However, increasingly poor quality ore sent the town into decline by the end of the decade. A new mine temporarily revived prospects in the s, but the industry abandoned the town for good in A few inhabitants remain and its picturesque setting is a favorite summer tourist destination.
Nearest city Buena Vista, CO. Castle Dome was established as a mining camp in and at one point attracted more than 3, residents. In the long run, the mines became profitable as they supplied lead for bullet manufacturing during both World Wars. The last mine was operating as recently as the s, but has since been converted into a museum. Nearest city Yuma, AZ. After a flood in , the residents of Harrisville named after settler, Moses Harris relocated upriver to form Harrisburg.
Problems, including drought, led to the departure of much of the population and the town was effectively abandoned by Interstate 15 runs through the site of the town, structures of which are still visible. The last intact building is the Orson B. Adams Home, named for its original inhabitant, which has been maintained and restored by the Bureau of Land Management.
Nearest city St. George, UT. Founded in , Bannack was briefly the capital of Montana. Up to 10, people lived in the surrounding area, hoping to make their fortune in gold, but by all the easy-to-reach ore was gone and the population rapidly declined to the hundreds.
Newly developed electric dredging methods led to a brief revival after , but by the s the town was deserted. Today, about 60 intact structures remain. Nearest city Dillon, MT. It was initially established in the s after gold, silver and copper discoveries, and in a rock quarry opened to provide ballast for the railways. Since the surviving buildings have intermittently been open as a tourist attraction.
Nearest city Lordsburg, NM. Nearby ghost towns Shakespeare, NM. Facebook Twitter Embed. Alabama 55 ghost towns Talladega County contains the most, with 6. Arcola, Hale County. Alaska 32 ghost towns Nome contains the most, with 7.
Kennicott, Valdez-Cordova. Arizona ghost towns Yavapai County contains the most, with Discover the best things to do in California.
This preserved-in-time copper mining town is located at the end of a mile-long dirt road in the middle of Alaska's Wrangell—St. By , however, the mine was empty and the Kennecott Copper Corporation abruptly abandoned the operation, leaving everything behind. Despite once having enough infrastructure to indulge a skating rink and even a hospital, only a story mill and the power plant remain today well, that and the eerie voices of long-lost miners.
Discover the best things to do in Alaska. Tucked in Death Valley, this ghost town was once a bustling mining community at the turn of the last century. After gold was discovered in the early s, Charles M. Schwab invested, and by Rhyolite boasted a hospital, an opera house, and even a stock exchange. Unfortunately, following the financial crisis, the town was almost completely abandoned by Explore the coolest places near Las Vegas. Before the Civil War, Cahaba was a bustling trade city located at the junction of the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers it was even the state's first capital from to After the war, the town became a community for freed slaves.
By , however, flooding caused the town to be completely abandoned. Discover the best things to do in Alabama. Straddling the border between New Mexico and Texas , Glenrio was an action-packed stop on Route 66 for decades. From the s until the s, the tiny town's gas stations, diners, bars, and motels were always packed with road-trippers passing through the Southwest.
But when I was built in the s, drivers no longer stopped in Glenrio, and the town fell into disrepair. Discover the best things to do in New Mexico. Like many ghost towns in the U. Elmo originally called Forrest City was once a thriving mining community. The end of train service to Chalk Creek Canyon in caused the town population to dwindle and by the s it was a bonafide ghost town. Only seven people reportedly stuck it out in St. The general store and guest house are still operating, surprisingly, which means visitors can spend the night in this ghost town even if the scene is a little, well, unlively.
Discover the best things to do in Colorado. Early Spanish settlers first found gold in Nelson then called El Dorado in It took another hundred years for other prospectors — many of them Civil War deserters — to catch on, creating the largest booms Nevada had ever seen. When they did, all hell broke loose: disputes over the Techatticup Mine, the town's most notorious site, frequently to murder.
Nelson's mines remained active through , but once its gold, silver, copper, and lead had been stripped, regular flash flooding made the town virtually uninhabitable.
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