According to Wikipedia: “A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed or ended for any reason.”
Bodie, California, is the United States’ most popular ghost town, with about 200,000 annual visitors. More about Bodie here.
Do you enjoy visiting ghost towns? If so, do you seek them out or plan trips specifically for/around visiting them, or do you like them but will only visit if it’s convenient?
If you’ve never been to a ghost town, we encourage to find one near you and check it out!
And make sure you read some of Dave Helgeson’s Ghost Town Trails columns right here on RVtravel.com. Dave and his wife love exploring ghost towns, and they’ll inspire you to plan a visit!
SOME INTERESTING POSTS ON GHOST TOWNS
- Take a tour on Route 66 in Texas, including 7 ghost towns!
- The top 5 Arizona ghost towns to visit
- Top 10 ghost towns in America
- Camp with the ghosts at this famous California ghost town
- 11 Route 66 ghost towns in Missouri
RVDT2912
I didn’t vote because we don’t visit ghost towns. But we do like to walk through an ‘OLD’ cemetery. It’s amazing to see some of the dates and descriptions on the tombstones.
And some of the family mausoleums are just beautiful.
Ghost towns are interesting, but without historical reference, can leave you hunting for the answers. What did they do? Why did the town die? Generally, simple economics.
Yes. Maybe for about 20 minutes. Then I’m done.
There are ghosts towns and then there are ghost towns. Terlingua, TX, just outside Big Bend NP’s west entrance, is one of the busiest ghost towns I have visited. The town was the center of cinnabar mining. Cinnabar is a toxic red mineral from which mercury is extracted. The mines are no longer operating. Today the town’s buildings have been repurposed into tourism. There are some great restaurants and a few gift shops (and RV parks) surrounded by desert.
Hmm toxicity is not not good anywhere what could be blobing round in a toxic ghost town yikes! My small minded opinion yall
Although I like both, I prefer visiting abandoned mining camps over ghost towns. Because of its extensive mining history, Nevada has more ghost towns than inhabited cities. In fact, it’s a 5 to 1 ratio. Here’s a small list from “Forgotten Nevada” to help folks visualize.
Some are only noticeable by a can dump, some are more obvious like Rhyolite, Candaleria or Belmont.
We take our Jeep all over the place experiencing these one time bustling beacons of humanity in the vast expanse.
We respect (and enforce) the “leave no trace, take nothing but pictures” attitude so future generations can be just as inspired by the accomplishments of these early settlers.
Fayette State Park in Michigan’s UP is a great abandoned Iron Smelting town that has a lot of history and a beautiful Harbor.
Yes! We spent last summer in western Montana (we live in central Mt) going through several ghost towns, I love them! We hope to continue the trend this summer in other states.
Next to Idaho, Montana Ghosts are swell.
We camp in Tennessee, Georgia, and occasionally Kentucky. Ghost towns are almost unknown here. I’ve never heard of one anyway.
Idaho is the best place to visit those ghosts. Always have been friendly to me.
I grew up in Ghost Town, Hamer, Ohio. I was told it was platted by a relative and the house I lived in was an old dance hall. It’s all gone now. When it was torn down it they found it was of old ban construction. Log beams held together with wooden pins. In fact I have one of the pins and some old square nails.