"A Step Back in Time..." Wallace by Camping_Girl

As many of you already know, I am crazy about historical architecture and history in general. Wallace, Idaho is a truly remarkable piece of American history. Every original building in the town is listed on the National Historic Register. Sadly, many of the buildings are empty and the town is looking a little run-down in areas. But that doesn't stop this place from being one of the best living ghost towns I have ever seen.

Wallace was founded in the late 1800's, when gold and silver were discovered in the area. There are several active mines still in operation in the area, which makes for a lot of jewellery stores in town! There have been 3 movies filmed in Wallace over the years. The most recent (and interesting) one was Dante's Peak.

Town folk and business people are extremely friendly here. In fact, my only complaint is that the town really shuts down on Mondays and Tuesdays, which I find odd for a town that is heavily promoting tourism. We were there on a Monday in August, and at least 50% of the businesses we wanted to tour were closed, including two of the largest eating/drinking establishments in town. So my recommendation to anyone planning a visit to Wallace would be to visit between Wednesday and Sunday.

When the freeway was built above Wallace the old train station actually had to be moved about 1000 feet. Part of the deal when the freeway went in was that the gov't had to relocate the historic building and pay for its restoration. That sounds like a pretty good deal for the town, in my opinion. The train station is now a museum.

Wallace Library

The library in Wallace is one of the few remaining Carnegie libraries in the U.S. It is in remarkably great condition.

Memorial

This statue pays tribute to the founding father of Wallace, Idaho.

• Pros:Great piece of American History
• Cons:A lot of empty buildings
• In a nutshell:A fun place to spend an afternoon exploring Idaho's history.