Here's how the Wikipedia article about this abandoned 19th century town says: Bodie, pronounced [BOH-dee], is a California ghost town in the Bodie Hills, east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, about 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe at an elevation of 8,379 feet (2554 meters). It was a boom town by 1876 after the discovery of a profitable seam of gold nearby, and by 1879 it had a population of seven to ten thousand. Bodie is a seven or eight hour drive north of Los Angeles, and about the same distance east of San Francisco.
Bodie went into decline in the subsequent decades and came to be described as a ghost town as early as 1915. The U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes the designated Bodie Historic District as a National Historic Landmark. Also registered as a California Historical Landmark, the ghost town officially was established as Bodie State Historic Park in 1962. It receives about 200,000 visitors yearly.
Since it is designated as a National and California landmark, I supposed the remaining structures are maintained to preserve them from decaying, same as the ruins of Oradour-sur-Glane in France. How do they know how many people visit per year? Is there an entrance fee?
ReplyDeleteAs usual, your slideshow is very well done.
I was there 20 years ago. I don't remember much except what you see in the photos. The 200,000 visitors comes from Wikipedia and is more recent. There certainly were't many people there when I was.
DeleteI was there 24 years ago. There was nobody there then either.
DeleteThat’s wild! Nice church, too.
ReplyDeleteIt took some effort to get the wood for the buildings- perhaps a train. Interesting place.
ReplyDeleteEvelyn, I had the same thought because it doesn’t seem to be many trees around!
DeleteThere was a railroad to bring in lumber from farther south. There are extensive forests on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Since the Bodie gold minds were very profitable, no expense needed to be spared. Boom and bust, though.
Deletegold mines...
ReplyDeleteA gold mind would be Trumpy’s!
DeleteWonder what happened to the people living there?
ReplyDeleteIs that Collette leaving the church?
As the gold ran out and the town declined, people moved on to other, more prosperous towns and areas, probably. And yes, that is Collette with Walt on the steps of the church.
DeleteAt the beginning of the pandemic, this guy bought Cerra Gordo and has been posting about his discoveries and renovations. I don't follow his posts regularly but I do come across them occasionally. The first time was when a couple traveling around the U.S. in their van went to visit him (Kate & Nat)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/c/GhostTownLiving
Thanks for that, Ellen. I'll have to do some reading.
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