| Page Views: 7,531 Last Visit to Bodie State Historic Park: May, 1998 | Roundtrip USA : part 7 The ghosttown Bodie by sim1 - last update: Mar 5, 2005 |
Day 9 of my roundtrip :
I am on the other side of the Sierra Nevada. Because it is May, a lot of the passes are still closed in the Sierra Nevada. I had to make a huge detour to get from Yosemite National Park to Bridgeport and the ghosttown of Bodie. I had to drive all the way up to Lake Tahoe to cross the Sierra Nevada and only made that just on time. The radio was warning that the pass could close any moment for everyone that didn't have snowchains. And of course I didn't... it was my summer holiday! I didn't expect to need snow chains! I was in luck, I passed the checkpoint just in time. A lot of cars drove into the ditch because of the slippery conditions, but I got through in one piece... and could continue my trip!
When I arrived in the ghosttown of Bodie it was cold and deserted. Only 2 or 3 more people walking around. I walked around and I couldn't imagine that people used to live here, it was so deserted, cold and unfriendly spot.
When I walked around I looked at the houses, shops, and saloons; all the furniture is still there, only with a thick layer of dust....I could just imagine how it must have been in the past.
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When you want to visit a ghosttown, Bodie is an excellent choice. It is a real Ghost Town : there is no MacDonalds, no tourist trinkets, no motels, one bathroom and no paved road to get there.
Bodie is an old mining town which had it's heydeys during 1880. As many as 12,000 people lived here during that time. Mining actually continued till the 1930's.
Today, Bodie stands just as time, fire, and the elements have left it
a genuine california gold-mining ghost town. |
Bodie is a State Historic Parc that kept commercial tourist activity to a minimum. Much of the town was destroyed by fire, but what remains today is a remarkable representation of what life would have been like "in the old days". Many builings remain, and in fact contain furnishings, clothing articles, kithen supplies, and other household items left behind by their owners. The Park Service maintains a policy of 'arrested decay'. Things are allowed as they were one hundred years ago..... the only thing they do is try to preserve the builings in their present state. The result is a remarkable display of history.
Bodie was named after Waterman S. Body who discovered gold here in 1859. By 1879 Bodie boasted a population of about ten thousends and was second to none for wickedness, badmen an "the worst climate out of doors". Killings occurred with monotonous regularity, sometimes becoming alsmost daily events. Robberies, stage holdups, and street fights. Provided variety, and the town's 65 saloons offerd many oppertunities for relaxation after hard days work in the mines.
One little girl, whose family was taking her
to the remote and infamous town, wrote in her diary:
"Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie" |
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| Pros: | "A 'real' Ghosttown, not commercialized, but left the way it was." | | Cons: | "The road to Bodie is rough and it is a bit of a detour to go here" | | In A Nutshell: | "If you don't like tourist traps, this is the place to go. A 'real' place, where you can clearly imagine how it must have been like in those days." |
sim1's Bodie State Historic Park Travel Tips
 Comments for sim1 about Bodie State Historic Park | | | | |
roamer61 Tue Jun 6, 2006 17:05 UTC
Great page. I'd love to go to Bodie. Its one of the old west towns I want to go to. The others being Dodge City in Kansas and Deadwood in South Dakota. | matcrazy1 Fri Mar 11, 2005 14:09 UTC
Great page, beautiful pictures and interesting info especially on Mono Lake. | deecat Thu Mar 10, 2005 18:05 UTC
I really enjoyed reading about Bodie State Historic Park, its history, desolation, but most of all, I enjoyed your fantastic, sometimes haunting photographs. Superior. | dr.firas Tue Mar 1, 2005 14:36 UTC
Hmmm did they drink that Grolsch beer!!! To drink or not to drink, that is the question LOL |
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