Bodie, CA

After Mono Lake we continued down the road to find Bodie State Historic Park. I had read an article in the BBC News about the top ten ghost towns in the world, and Bodie was on the list. Having never heard of it before, we decided it was a must see.

Bodie

The road to Bodie is 13 miles long, with the last three miles on dirt road. The road wound its way through hills that would be prefect for a cowboy movie. Nice big rock formations and boulders where the shoot-outs would be held and ambushes plotted. Unfortunately, the dirt road was also of cowboy quality and contained plenty more of those rocks. We merrily zipped up the winding paved road in the M, but had to take it mighty slow on the rocky dirt road. The M is no SUV.

The Methodist church

One of several wells

But we gamely jostled along, probably at the speed a horse-drawn carriage might have taken, and finally crested the hill to find Bodie. Wow, it really is an amazing find. It was founded as a mining camp in 1859 by W S Bodey after discovering some gold in the area. It wasn’t until 1876, though, after a new gold discovery, that the town boomed and continued to grow for the next few years. It peaked at around 2000 buildings and as many as 7000 people, and 65 bars. Murder, barroom brawls, and general wild west mayhem ruled. Decline started in 1880 and continued until that last mine was closed in 1942, although it was considered a ghost town by the 20’s since so few people lived there.

Honey almond lotion in the window

The kitchen in one house

Because of the threat of vandalism, a caretaker was posted there until it was turned into a state park in the 60’s. The town is now in a state of “arrested decay”, with only about 110 of the original buildings remaining. But that still gives one a good sense of the town. It is fascinating to wander around and peer into all the buildings. Most of them have considerable furnishings remaining and some of the shops are still stocked. Several of the buildings are preserved enough that they are habitable and the park rangers stay in them. What an interesting place to live after all the tourists go home!

A bedroom, complete with bedpan

Comforts of home, well-aged

Some of the main buldings- general store, mortuary, gym

Inside the gym

Well-stocked shelves in the general store

Looks ready to open

More goods

The billiards room in the hotel

A roulette table to keep those miners busy

The gas station

Makes you wonder if anything is in the chest

Perhaps the dining room.

We could have spent much more time at this step back in time. It’s a bit of a journey to get there, but well worth the time. We took oodles of pictures, so I hope we can convey a sense of what it was like with our photos.

In the schoolroom

The schoolhouse