Bodie is a gold rush era ghost town east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Mono Lake California. In its heyday it was a wild west era boomtown with shoot outs, bar-room brawls, stage-coach robberies, and murders. Dust and mayhem in the old wild west!
It had a jail, saloons, a red light district, and a morgue, everything you needed in the lawless frontier, just like all those western movies we’ve all watched.
Bodie also had a Chinatown with an opium den and Taoist temple. I don’t remember Taoist temples in the old western movies, do you? I guess this doesn’t quite fit with the six-guns and society ethos of those movies.
There was a Catholic and Methodist church, to counteract the lawless ways of the frontier, no doubt.
Bodie was founded in 1859 and at its peak it had a population of almost 10,000 people and around 2000 buildings.
It began to decline as a boomtown in the 1890’s, and became more of a family oriented frontier community.
There was a doctor’s house, a town hall, a couple of hotels, a barber shop and a schoolhouse, and I would imagine much less murder, mayhem, and general excitement.
By 1910 there were 688 people living in Bodie, and by 1915 people started referring to it as a ghost town even though it was inhabited by a few hangers-on until around 1942.
Bodie is now designated as a protected state historical park and is maintained but not improved.
We encountered several wild west ghost towns in the Eastern Sierra, some we found while hiking which were completely unexpected and quite a surprise. Each of them gives you the wonderfully eerie feeling of walking back in dusty time.
Cheers to you from the living ghosts of the old wild west~
these are great! thanks for sharing. my mother grew up in a western coal mining town in the 1920s that became a ghost town when the industry declined.
Yes, sounds very similar to Bodie. She must have some incredible stories to tell. I imagine life in one of these towns would have been wonderful for a child. So much to explore!
I haven’t been to Bodie in a long time. I love the Eastern Sierra – going to have to make a trip there again soon.
The Eastern Sierras are gorgeous and there is so much variety in things to see and do. I look forward to hearing about your trip~
One of my faves is Rhyolite, Nevada, not to far from Beatty as you leave Death Valley. Last time I was there it had two residents and they didn’t like each other.
“it had two residents and they didn’t like each other.”
Classic! So cool that you visit there.
There’s a town I always drive through called Red Mountain. It has around 100 or so residents and one tavern. I really need to stop in Red Mountain and get a sense of what life is like there.
One of the residents was Wheelbarrow Tommy and the original bottle house that they replicated at Knott’s Berry farm is there. Wheelbarrow Tommy was a legend in his own mind and lived in the bottle house. He was a pretty good guy. A true desert rat. I haven’t been there in a very long time, but it used to be a regular stop.
It sounds incredible. Might you be persuaded to do a post on this????
I love these photos – spent much of my childhood pretending to be a cowgirl in Oregon (!) – loved and still love the idea of the Wild West – too many John Wayne films I suspect 🙂
Yep, I was addicted to Laura Ingells Wilder books as a child, so any wild west ghostowns take me right back to my childhood imaginings~
Looks like time travel….
Beautiful images Cindy 🙂
7th one in this series is just awesome for the beautiful light and vivid colors 🙂
Thank you Sreejith. I was fascinated by the interiors and had to restrain myself from posting more photos of them. The pharmacy was incredible too!
I almost wish they would bring it back to life. Great pictures Cindy
It was almost like you could blink your eyes and you would be on a colorized western movie set!
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MZDChdOjOV8/hqdefault.jpg
I looked at the pictures and smiled. I too thought about Western movies and wanted to see more.
The thought of them makes me smile! 🙂
Spooky and beautiful!
There are a couple of young rangers who live in one of the buildings, protecting the town.
What an awesome job for a young person!
Interesting !
Thanks!
What a cool piece of history, I actually love the wild west history, would like to live there a bit isolated(more than a bit I guess) I just wonder if they have wifi over there
I kinda doubt it. There are young rangers who live in one of the houses to protect the town. I was thinking how cool this would be until you mentioned the lack of wifi!
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Sí. Seguro que los fantasmas de los antiguos habitantes merodean por allí 😉
Siempre produce una sensación extraña ver lugares abandonados con enseres de sus últimos moradores. ¿Qué les hizo alejarse para no volver? Siempre quedan preguntas por responder y la imaginación se pone en marcha. Así se escriben las buenas novelas 🙂
Si. Esto es por que amo pueblos fantasmas. Quiero hablar con algunos fantasmas, pero no quiero hablar conmigo! Que esten bien mi querida amiga~
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Love this! David Carradine’s character from “Kung Fu” would have felt right at home in Bodie, Taoist temple and all.
He would! Perfect. Kung Fu was an almost erudite western, Grasshopper! 😉
Great pics & stories — happy travels!
Cheers to you~
That’s so cool that this is still around! good ol cowboy days alright 😄
I think we all want to time travel back to the old west, as long as there are no gunfights involving us!
Exactly! lol 😄
I got this sad “tugging” feeling in my gut when I got to Pictures 7 and 8….a haunted/hollow feeling. Makes sense I guess, it is a ghost town! Thanks for sharing your visit!
Yes. I went into a home that was old and abandoned in another western place. There was an oil painting over the fireplace of the daughter of the family. She was around eight and there were mementos and furniture left by the family. This was not a tourist place and I went with my son who had a key. It was a very empty sad feeling. I eventually learned the whole history of the family.
Wow, that explains those feelings then. You really captured the essence of the place with your photo, well enough for me to pick up the vibes both from you and the place itself. When I looked at the general store I immediately thought of all things, Little House on the Prairie (the tv show). I don’t know if you ever watched it, but Mr. Olson’s store looked a lot like the one in your picture! In trying to find a picture, I was lead to this blog that has pictures from their Landis Valley Museum trip, check out the store! http://withoutlovewehavenothing.blogspot.com/2012/04/landis-valley-museum.html
Yes, I was a Laura Ingalls Wilder groupie! I read all the books, watched the show and remember the store!
Love this! “Ghost Towns” have an aura of mystery and history, combined…that’s how I felt when I walked through Old Town.
🙂
Old Town is very cool. I always go back there. I want to stay in the old hotel and chat up the ghosts!
I plan on visiting it on my next road trip…hopefully next year!
Reblogged this on Random Ramblings; Myriad Musings and commented:
Another “Ghost Town” of the old, Wild West…thanks for sharing these, Cindy!
🙂
Thank you more for appreciating my dear friend~
🙂
I have been here!!!! Went about 12 years ago. It was fascinating. It is almost a pity that they are not maintained a bit. I would hate to think it might all disappear one day.
They do maintain them. There are roof repairs and such, and they have rangers that live in one of the houses to protect the place. They just don’t add to or embellish the place. Fabulous you visited. It took me a long time to get here~
Love love love these Cindy! Wonderful post! I love all the photos. There were no trees. Amazing to me. 🙂
The lack of any sort of trees is odd. This town is near Mono Lake which is a highly saline lake. Maybe there is salt in the soil?
OH yes maybe so and it’s probably sandy. I love the colors of the soil. Wonderful photos Cindy. I felt like I went along with you! 😀
Well, you did and I thank you kindly ma’am!
Like many others my age, I grew up with the Cartrights and High Chaparall. And I saw many westerns on TV…It is just what you say about
shutting my eyes…and being there , in the movie, for real.
Love your images and the story!
I had such a huge crush on Hoss Cartwright when I was a kid. I still do I think. He was so kind.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Danblocker.jpg
He really was. I think my favourite was that dark haired, not that kind but still…uh, I forget his name…He worked at the farm anyway, rather nonchalant, but Oh, was it Manolito?
Yep. He was a heart throb!
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I’m amazed at how well preserved it is. What a treasure. Where my folks live in western CO there are quite a few ghost towns but there is almost nothing left. I’m also amazed at how recent these places were inhabited. The wild west wasn’t that long ago.
Yes. This strikes me too. As a kid I thought of the wild west as soooo long ago. But really western exploration, the pioneer movement west, and settlement was a very recent phenomona. It’s strange to envsion life in the frontier in 1859 versus life in say, Vienna at the same time!
An amazing contrast.
<3
Loved the tin ceiling. I think it would be great to experience the wild west for a visit but the thought of outhouses and chopping wood to cook might get old right quick. I would love to spend most of my time on horseback however.
Yeah those things would get old real fast, and then of course there is the wifi issue, althought I do agree with you about horseback!
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Billy Massey – Ghost Town – Rockabilly Instrumental 45 – YouTube
Vidéo pour “ghost towns musique rockabilly”▶ 2:12
Awesome! Thanks for posting! I should have included this as a sound track!
My favorite music more than 40 years … !!!
We have plenty of ghost towns here in Colorado, many way off the beaten track in the mountains where there was mining. You come across them during hikes in the backcountry. Undoubtedly, the level of lawlessness and violence were much higher than portrayed in the movies.
Liked that Bizarro comic you posted above. It seems we share a sense of humor pointed in the same direction. 🙂
I don’t know why but westerns just crack me up. Thinkiing of Mel Brooks right now! 😉 And yes, it is amazing to be hikiing and come upon some remnant of a ghost town you didn’t know about. This just happened to us~
How interesting to see the real thing, compared to the western movies that we saw when we were kids. It was a rough life of daily adventures. Great post Cindy! HJ 🙂
This place would be intense in winter with the winds funneling down the mountain slopes and the absence of trees for windbreaks. They have decaying sleighs in one of the buildings.
Interesting that the “collectors” haven’t made away with everything but the soil. I don’t believe there’s much original left out in the deserts of Arizona, unless it’s found on a Native American Reservation. It is impressive to be able to walk into and around real history…your photos do justice to the subject 🙂
What a thoughtful comment! And yes, it is wonderful this ghost town has been preserved unlike so many others~
So happy you captured it 🙂
<3
What a fascinating post, Cindy! The images are haunting yet beautiful. It’s like in the western movies :-). Sounds like you had a splendid hike, and thank you for sharing this great find.
Thank you more for your kind appreciation & cheers to you!
Gee, I didn’t know all this, Cindy — thanks for educating me! What a fascinating lifestyle, though I can’t imagine living like that now, ha!
I was imagining living here in the wild west, but then I remember no wifi, so that fantasy just crashed down!
https://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/computers-wifi-wifi_connections-wi_fi_connections-wireless_connections-desert_crawlers-jben215_low.jpg
Gosh – grgeous impressions like taken right out of a western movie, Cindy. I drove through the Death Valley in the eighties and visited several canyons and valleys, I might even have been pretty close to this photogenic beauty. This thought brings a smile on my face. I spent 12 weeks in California and the surroundings counties and loved every minute of it. Such a fantastic land with a surprise awaiting behind every bend.
So wonderful that you spent time in Death Valley! It is an incredible experience isn’t it! It has this very unique, incredibly harsh beauty. California does have an amazing variety of unusual eco-systems. It’s probably why I have never managed to move out of the state despite the fires and quake risk. Thanks for stopping by Dina and be well my friend~
I like Bodie. As ghost towns go, it’s a delight, Cindy. I think your blog should entice several people there. 🙂 Last time I was there I took a wrong turn out of town and followed dirt roads for at least an hour before I got back to the main road. Fortunately, I was driving my 4×4 pickup. –Curt
That would be an adventure. There are definitely dirt roads you could get lost on and that would be fun. You might even happen upon another ghost town, or something else equally interesting, like a bear. I saw an amazing bear cub!
Fun it was, Cindy. mainly it was a lot of wide open beautiful country. There may have been a ghost cabin or two. 🙂 Have you been to Rhyolite? That’s another fun ghost town, and cemetery. It also has that glorious outdoor sculpture garden next door. –Curt
I haven’t been there, but I know there are lots of ghost towns in Nevada! I’d love to visit~
Did they just leave things as is, at the general store? I would have thought they would have cleaned it out.
Leslie
There was a quote I read whose source I don’t know that said that Bodie is “frozen in time in a state of arrested development.”
I imagine there was some re-creation involved with period pieces, but there is an onsite museum full of original Bode artifacts there were left in-situ, so I imagine there may be a mixture of both.
Very interesting story, Cindy. Lovely photos.
Leslie
<3
My favorite of these are the interior shots. Amazing!! Especially that green kitchen. Wonderful shots Cindy.
I love the interiors too. It was hard for me not to post more. There was an amazing pharmacy full of medicinal bottles and a hotel with a dining room!
Oh the pharmacy sounds so interesting!
It was!
What a trip back in time. Abandoned places are sad but beautiful. If the walls could talk!
Yes ghost towns are reminders of our mortality~
And our history 🙂
Precisely~
This reminded me of when we lived in Tucson and went on a ghost town hunt. They weren’t anywhere near as interesting as Bodie. We did see a house with cows in the living room. On that tour we did have an adventure off the beaten path on a winding road up a mountain driving right on the edge of cliffs without rails. The scenery was breathtaking.
Oh this sounds amazing, and can you imagine how fabulous photos of the cows in the house would be!
Yea, pictures, that would have been smart! We did enjoy your pictures!
I am so glad! Thank you~
I juist know such places from films. I would like to visit them too
I hope you do! It is a fascinating experience~
Fascinating history, information and great pics. I bet it was so much fun to step back into time and find those ghost towns undiscovered and those that were with things left behind like in the kitchen photo to see what they used and how they lived. Such funny cartoons to add to it all. I remember a really cool ghost town we went to in Calif. when we lived out there that we went to visit. It was in the desert area east of L A. Seemed it had a name like Calico or something like that. It was fun to visit and opened to tourists then. Can’t remember its been too long ago. About 50 yrs. or so. as it was about 1966 – 1968. 🙂
Amazing! Here is a link to it:
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ca/calico.html
Would love to see your photos!
I wish I had some of that place when we went, but unfortunately I don’t. We used a little Kodak film camera back then as the digital were not of thought of at that time. Ha! But, it’s nice they have that link to look up some of their things that way. The gold rush in Calif., Colorado, Alaska and other Midwestern states all had their ghost towns. Some here in Colo. included Cripple Creek, Blackhawk, and Silverton. Those were turned into gambling operations with casinos when gabling was legalized here, which I hated to see happen as I loved the uniqueness and history those towns had.
Yes they are important reminders of our incredible pioneer and frontier history. I want to see them perserved too!
Cindy I could reread this and enjoy the pictures over again, you’ve given me incentive to try and get down there to visit these places myself. thanks
Oh good! You will have a wonderful time exploring this area and there is so much beauty to see and experience. Very pleased you want to viisit!
What a fabulous place, Cindy! It really does look like the wild west of old!
It is the wild west of old!
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Eerie yet beautiful!
Yes, exactly how I felt!
It sounds like home. 🙂
I thought you might like a reminder of:-
An old cowboy went ridin out one dark and windy day
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red-eyed cows he saw
Plowin through the ragged skies and up a cloudy draw
Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steel
Their horns were black and shiny and their hot breath he could feel
A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the sky
For he saw the riders comin hard and he heard their mournful cries
Yippie I ohhh ohh ohh
Yippie I aye ye ye
Ghost riders in the sky 🙂
Cash was so freaking awesome! He really was a poet. This is so perfect. I can hear his stirrups clacking. You got to come west young man!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f0/JohnnyCashMeanasHell.jpg/220px-JohnnyCashMeanasHell.jpg
I’ll ask the ravens if I can have some time off.
http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/animal/animal0078.gif
Oh alright its a penguin. 🙂
I know about your responsibility to the Queen’s ravens as the good Brit-Citizen you are, but penguins??? I had no idea! You have many facets to you Graham!
There is nothing quite like ghost towns of the wild west, I love them. My hometown has a great history of a frontier town, and fortunately it never lost its population but very few old structures exists in the hills nearby. This view of Bodie you shared is beyond cool ~ the old town as was so many, many decades ago… I’d love to visit, as it would feel like stepping inside a dream for me, for as a kid there was not a better place to pretend to live 🙂 Great shots Cindy!
A fellow blogger was talking about how WP put a bunch of comments from fellow bloggers in spam, so I went and checked my spam and found your comment and about ten others there! I would have been so sad to miss this comment Randall. So now you have to come back to California. I can tell you about a couple of other ghost towns we found that are completely off the beaten track. I told you I am selfish. I want to see your photos! (And read your comments!)
Your photos and this post have brought them back to life Cindy! It must have been an interesting experience to be a witness to something now gone, but still alive in our childhood tv memories!
Yes it was a fascinating experience! I think the mythos of the wild west is something many children remember from their chilhood fantasies, and, some adutls fantasies too! 😉
It was such a part of my childhood tv, even across the Atlantic! When we got to Alias Smith and Jones, it became adolescent fantasy for me 😉
We are indeed one world! <3
Wow that is awesome! I love your photos and would love to see that someday! Thank you for sharing! I love ghost towns and it’s on my bucket list to visit some! Hugz Lisa and Bear
Bear would be right at home!
Hi Cindy, I love old ghost towns, they are so full of stories that swirl around me when I visit. I have heard of this one, but never visited. Thanks so much for sharing your awesome pictures! Kinda got me in the mood to draw a western fairy. 🙂
Ooooh I hope you do! I wonder what your western fairy would look like!
Virginia City outside of Reno was on the same path as Bodie until they figured out they could attract tourists…
Yes, it was a much bigger town with a population more than double Bodie’s at the same period of time. Both were gold era boomtowns.
Great knowledge!
<3
That is interesting story about the place. Even at 600+ people at the time, I can imaging that could be felt as a lot of people for such place at the time.
I agree. It is such a barren isolated area, 688 would feel like a real town and outpost.
You are exactly right, I think the logistic to feed such community then was not easy.
They were on the stage coach line. But you are right. Feeding everyone, especially in the winter, and supplying the town in general, would have been quite a challenge.
I’ve been to a lot of ghost towns that are similar. I went to one this weekend from an anti rely different era. It’s called Atomic City, based upon the work they did there.
I saw some photos of Atomic City. Some photographer took same amazing photos of it. It’s a post-apocolyptic-nuclear-canary of town. Wow.
I would suspect they were on my weekend post, but my iPhone photos leave something to be desired.
I will go look….
I really like this.
I am so glad you do and cheers to you!
This has to go on my bucket list! Thanks for sharing these photos of a fascinating part of our history.
I am so glad it resonated with you and thank you!
Wow, these pics are great, reminds me of a few episodes from The Twilight Zone.
This episode I bet:
http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/5278/66/16×9/960.jpg
We now return control of your television……
Nope, that’s the Outer Limits!
Dang. You’re right! You science ficton watching genius. Twilight Zone didn’t really go to an old western town as far as I can remember. Outer Limits did. Sounds like you and I both love the classic sci-fi.
Ah, it’s so quiet and eerie-sistable! ♡ლ(-༗‿༗-)ლ♡
👻 👻 👻 ♡ლ(-༗‿༗-)ლ♡ 👻 👻 👻
Those buildings still seem to be in livable conditions. Just amazing. If I’d driven by, I don’t think I would’ve known it was a ghost town! Love the view of old kitchenware there. Thanks for this time-travel opportunity Cindy! 🙂
There are some young park rangers that live in one of the buildings to protect the town. I imagine this is an incredibly awesome experience, if you’re not afraid of ghosts! 👻 👻
Ghostly, but fascinating. I would work there too 😉
We could volunteer for a week. I wonder if they would let us? I imagine there are lots of critters as well as the ghosts we could talk to! 👻
Yes, the critters might come over, and the ghosts probably reside there permanently 🙂 Great place!
<3 👻
Really a trip back in time Cindy, thank you for sharing your trip 🙂
Thank you more for coming with me!
Always Cindy 🙂
<3
oh what a beautiful pictures: I adore the landscape
thank you for good share
Kisses
Thank you more for such a lovely comment and cheers to you!
oh very welcome Cindy
Kisses
Hugs back to you~ <3
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
It is time to step through the lens with Cindy Knoke and this time it is into the past. We visited a ghost town once… there is this eerie sense that someone is watching you…. what stories these buildings could tell.. great photographs as always.. Please head over and explore…..
Thank you for your kindness Sally. You are so appreciated my friend. How interesting that you had that sense! Maybe someone was! 👻 👻 👻
Hello
This is just fantastic ! I love it 😀
I am honored that you do and thank you too! 👻 👻
Makes you wonder how these places have withstood the test of time . . .
This place is isolated out in the middle of nowhere which probably helped significantly~
Cindy you certainly get to see so many fascinating places. This is incredible, thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you more for appreciating the 👻town!
🙂
Loved this post, Cindy – great pics – very evocative!
How kind! Thanks so much & have a wonderful week~
Fascinating history and excellent photos
I am honored thank you & cheers too! 👻
Pingback: Ghost Towns of the Wild West~ | GrannyMoon's Morning Feast
Yeah to the Wild West! So atmospheric and tickled by the idea of a Taoist temple.
The Toaist temple is wonderful isn’t it! This was a diverse and multi-cultural wild west boomtown. I love this too~
Enjoyed reading and seeing the wild west. Interesting that there was some 10,000 people back in the day.
Yes, and then just a short time later the boom busted and there were only 688!
This is amazing and I first thought how they are still intact. You can just go dust them and start using them, but at last I came to know that they are protected property and are maintained.
Shiva
Yes, thank goodness! If not they probably would be trashed which would be a shame. We need these physical connections with our past~
Very True!
Shiva
👻 👻 👻 <3
Used to visit Calico ghost town when I was young, and went back again a dozen years ago while passing through. Hard to believe people eked a living out of those kinds of environs!
Yes, others have mentioned Calico and I visited it long ago too. They are are memorable places!
So fascinating, excellent captured… 🙂
Honored, thank you!
10,000 people? It’s so difficult to imagine this looking at those clusters of huts.
I didn’t photograph the whole town and there used to be many more buildings. Chinatown and the red light district as just one example are completely gone. Most of the town is gone. What you are seeing in just a portion of what remains.
I was surprised by the inclusion of the Taoist temple.. My, it was a ghostly experience today!
I think it would be interesting to spend the night there!
Wow fascinating!!! Did you feel any presence of ghost while you’re there? haha 🙂
I bet I would have to spend the night to feel that or be in the town alone.
I love history and the old west is one of the best! Great post.
You have to admit it would have been a better post if I had photographed a 👻 from the wild west. Sigh……
My wife took her children there., spending the day. She said they enjoyed it very much. Great pictures.
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I bet the kids still remember it!
Reblogged this on penpowersong.
👻 hugs to you my friend & cheers too!
Nice post
Thanks!
Very curious they still exist, great images Cindy!
Maybe the 👻 👻 protect the place!
Must be kidding??👻👽💀👹
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Your photos and descriptions really stoke the imagination! Opium dens? Maoist temples? Who knew?!?!
Certainly not me! It does make the town, and the wild west, seem far more interesting doesn’t it!
Fabulous town, spreading out.
It has a charming rustic simplicity doesn’t it~
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image source: pinterest
Fascinating 👍🏻💖
Merci beaucoup mon ami. Also rescued this comment from the spam-bots!
How exciting these photos are. I’m obsessed with all things Wild West. It almost reminded me of the tiny old mining town I visited up on a cliff in the mountains in Jerome, Arizona, this past winter. 🙂 Oh, and P.S. I found that photo I was telling you about an artist in Arizona who works in bronze sculptures, the Wolf. I’ll try and FB it to you. 🙂
Excellent! Thank you and look forward to seeing it~
I sent it to you on FB. 🙂
Merci beaucoup mon ami! <3
Such fascinating history. I’m glad to hear it’s being maintained. Great photos!
Yes, me too, albeit maintained in a state of disrepair!
http://www.floridaforeclosuredefenselawyersblog.com/abandoned_house.jpg
When we visited Bodie I remember reading a quote from a little girl when her parents said they were moving to that den of iniquity: “Goodbye God. We’re mobile to Bodie!”
Yes, I read this somewhere too. I can imagine how she felt. She was moving from some city or something if I recall correctly….. I bet she ended up in love with the place and the nature around her!
I hope so. If nothing else she was gifted with lots of great story telling material!
Very true!
Cindy, this was very interesting, especially on a personal level. I had a relative in the Canadian Goldrush James “Cariboo” Cameron, who was friends with Billy Barker. Barker was responsible for starting the first town in the area, Barkerville. It is probably our most famous ghost town, while my Great Great Great Uncle felt bad for all the men, women, and children who died in the rough conditions. He built Cameronton Cemetary close to Barkerville. There are some ironic stories about him and burying his wife. I think I promised someone I would write that up one day. Anyway, I just love looking at or visiting old towns and your pictures are awesome!
Wow. I looked up Barkerville. It is extensive and looks fascinating. What an incredible family history and wonderful you know so much about it! I had to look at a map to see where Barkerville is as we are heading to BC in under three weeks and I would visit if I could but it looks to be too far away from where we are going. We are going to Vancouver Island via Seattle to stay up the Knight Inlet and all over the island for about a month. We go back and back to BC and just keep finding more and more things we want to see. I just found out my family, the Barton’s settled all over Canada and Nova Scotia. No wonder I love Canada so much. I wanted to retire on The Sunshine Coast but my husband didn’t want to emigrate. I do hope you write the Barkerville story. I would love to read it!
I love Vancouver Island. We cooked at a kid’s camp one summer for 3 months, right on the coast. Amazing! Enjoy your holiday. I will get to that story!
<3
Thankfully, Cindy, we’ve come a long way since those raw days.
I loved janjoy52’s comment, and hope your reply rings true!
Hope so too and cheers to you!
Stunning! it all looks like a film set!! 🙂
The films has some verisimilitude at least in terms of the sets~
Fun! We took a ghost town vacation one year in Montana it was very interesting. Love your blog!
Wow. I would love to see your photos!
We traveled before digital photos were invented 🙂 We have a farm now and take very few vacations.I really enjoy your blog! Melody
And I enjoy yours. If we ever stop moving, I would love to adopt a couple of donkeys for The Holler!
Wow so cool!
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Love the pictures! And the story you tell about the town. Imagine how it must have been when there were still people living there…
You could stay in the hotel and eat in the saloon. It would have been wonderful!
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Yes!
A photo is the work of Nicolas Tritz, established in Iowa in 1850 as a blacksmith , he was specialized in famous pioneers sheeted wagons hitched , as manufacturer , repairer of the spoked wheels. In this family , thousands of American families in more than 20 states … Thank you for this. Your daily visits . Bravo for your bottom artitisque work … My compliments .
Very interesting. America has such a rich immigration history. My husband’s family emigrated from Germany to Iowa and many generations of Knokes lived in Iowa. The Bartons from the UK on my paternal side, settled all over Canada, and my maternal relatives from Bulgaria, Germany, and Poland settled in America. My mixed cultural identity mirrors that of most Americans, something to be proud of, something that makes American interesting.
These pictures are impressive.
You are very thoughtful and appreciated Marko. Happy Sunday to you~
When we planned our trip to the Eastern Sierra’s in June, Bodie was on my list. I remember going there as a child, when we camped at Toulomme Meadows. Fortunately, my sister-in-law is a big history buff, especially about ghost towns. We had a great day there. I just finished reading on of the books that I picked up in the museum/gift shop. Future visits will take us to Aurora, etc. I would also like to revisit the gold camps in the western foothills outside of Sacramento… so many future trips.
Oscar
Yes we happened upon Bennetville, another abandoned old mining town on a hike by surprise. This is such incredibly beautiful country. I wish we could have been there when you were, but I’m glad you spent time here & cheers to you Oscar~
Great post! Paints a vivid image of days gone by! Love it! 😃
I am so pleased you do & cheers to you!
Fascinating. Ghost towns and deserted buildings have a certain allure to them.
Yes, the allure of hidden mysteries!
Amazing structures. I’d love to knock, just to see who’s home 😉
That would be exciting, especially at night!
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What a crazy thing to come upon old ghost towns while hiking! I enjoyed this visit to Bodie, Cindy. I am always intrigued by the history of northern California, centered around the gold rush; and your photos here were a fun adventure for me, thank you.
Of course the towns we stumbled on weren’t as big or as maintained as Bodie, but what was especially surprising was how remote and hidden away they were, way up in the 🗻 🗻!
This is so fascinating. I love Westerns and would be totally hooked to look at all this. I can imagine the stories tucked away in this place. Beautiful.
Ghost towns do get one’s imagination soaring. So pleased you enjoyed Jacqueline and be well my friend~
Thank you Cindy 🙂
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I really liked peeking in the windows at the small town and its remains. The little sunny kitchen was pretty and I liked the idea of the doctor’s office and the town’s General Store! Those 10,000 people probably felt the “fever” of gold but then, lost their compass for life. Hope they found a small farm to take care of and raise a family. . . I can imagine a few different “happy endings for those folks.” Thanks, Cindy for your sweet visits and special comments! <3
You have a wonderful ability to put yourself in other places and people Robin. This is a creative and empathetic gift which makes you such a pleasure to have as a friend. Be well and I love your sensitivity~
Hi Cuz,
Back from my NJ trip and found this waiting for me. I love carousing around ghost towns. Used to go visit them when I’d go fishing in Wyoming and Montana. These were little unprotected hidden spots way back in the mountains and there was still a lot of “memorabilia” still laying about in the buildings. They were always fun to explore. Looks like you had a good time. 🙂
They are still there and sometimes walking into the houses is so eerie because it feels like the people left a long time ago but might still be coming back! Hope you had a wonderful trip cuz and glad you stopped by~
Hi Cindy! Fascinating post! Wow! I would love to go there one day. The pictures are magnificent! 😮
I hope you do go and I would love to hear your impressions!
I’m guessing the poor, indentured (and/or enslaved) Chinese workers found what respite they could in their temple, ’cause I can’t imagine there was any elsewhere in the West, at least until some small reforms began to combat the abusive conditions under which they lived, well into the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I’m rather amazed to learn that there *was* such a refuge. Nifty! And I’d love to see some of these ghost towns. Really beautiful, and I never tire of being in places haunted by their past and sensing myself immersed in the streams of history and its people. It was interesting on our Santa Fe trip this summer to go through a number of neo-ghost towns, places that thrived and faded along the old Route 66, in various mining towns, and over the rise and fall of various reservation communities, for example. Lots of towns in both TX and NM that were all but deserted in the middle of a work day, silent and artificial-looking and ineffably melancholy. Which desolation and ruination, as you’d know from my blog, I rather admire and fondly embrace, despite knowing the hardships it may represent. Ah, beautiful rust and rusticity! You took such eloquent shots of it all here!!
xoxo,
Kathryn
What a lovely and thoughtful comment. The discrimination against Chinese laborers in frontier towns, railroad enterprises, mining operations, etc., was hellacious. I was very surprised about the temple and the opium den. It spoke of a level of tolerance I did not know existed. We still need to learn about tolerance don’t we. Sometimes I wonder if we’re capable of learning (yes Donald I am talking to you). I too find abandoned properties, ranches and ghost towns quite moving, both in terms of the sense of the fleeting nature of human life and in terms of the lives these towns and structures left behind.
It has the feeling of an old episode of the Twilight Zone. It looks haunted.
I bet it is and I got the twilight zone vibe too!
http://www.twilightzone.org/images/main/intrface/intro_45.gif
Reblogged this on Art by Rob Goldstein and commented:
This is a great post from Cindy Knoke.
Your thoughtfulness is very much appreciated Robert & cheers to you~
Greeley told America to go west, and some of those who listened may have wound up here. And cursed him for misleading them.
Or thanked him if they find the ore or settled on a successful ranch~
Thank you for your needed uplifting glass half full photographs and writing.
You are most welcome & cheers~
Bodie is my absolute favorite! I especially love the old jail, cemetery, and antique truck.
I was intrigued by all of these too, especially the cemetery which was quite unusual~
The wild wild west! Wolfie would have fun sniffing around it all😊
Plus back in the day he would have wolves for friends~
That’s ok. ..Europa is chock-a-block full of them!
That’s true!!!
I spent a lot of years wandering and wondering in the deserts of Nevada and California when I was a whippersnapper. My family enjoyed Indian Trading Posts, Ghost Towns, Old Mines, and such. They were free or at least cheap and my parents would do anything to keep their herd quite. (four kids in five years)..my mother went nutz.
I truly enjoyed this article, a little flash from my past, I don’t succumb to these type of pleasures anymore having learned from my mother and never had kids….so no grand kids but there are still pleasurable memories. I found an old bookstore in one “operating” ghost and bough a simply bound short story by Mark Twain published in his time, called “A Dog’s Tale” one of my multiple purchases on these frequent childhood gad abouts. THANX for posting this Cindy. ~~dru~~
These sound like layered and fascinating memories and experiences, bringing up a mix of feelings in you. Just reading it sounds like a memoir I would want to read. The Mark Twain book sounds like an amazing find. He is one of my favorites and a book published in his lifetime would be a treasure.
Ghostly. And, somehow beautiful
Thank you! It has a spare, sort of haunting beauty.
Lindo, lindo, lindo! Estou paralisada com a delicadeza dessa foto! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Voce e uma pessoa adoravel. Obrigada!
I remember hearing about Bodie while taking photography classes at CCSN in Las Vegas, NV. I wish I had been able to get there for a visit before I moved away. Great photos!
It is definitely a worthwhile trip back to the old wild west!
Scary 👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻
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I would have never imagined they still exist. I would love to visit one day. I think the government should renovate these places but keep it in the way it is. Do they arrange for tourists to visit? Very interesting. I love history!
You can easily visit on your own via rental car. It’s like driving into the old wild west! And there are other towns nearby you can also visit.
wow that is amazing
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