Rhyolite, Nevada Ghost Town
Rhyolite, Nevada Ghost Town
So you guys already know that I love old stuff. And if I can find an old town full of old stuff, well, that’s perfect. When we decided to head to Death Valley I started looking for some ghost towns that would be near by. Rhyolite came up as probably the best in the area, and it is pretty easy to get to. There are still a lot of buildings to see, even though they are only partially there. The land is part of the BLM so it’s open to public access, and the BLM provides a little map and description of the buildings on the main street.
The first thing you come to is the bottle house. It was built in 1905 during the gold rush boom in Rhyolite. Tom Kelly built the 3 room house with 51,000 beer bottles that were donated by the 50 bars in town. There are a few medicine bottles, but it’s mostly Busch beer.
The very coolest part of the house was all the different colors of bottles. Some of them have turned purple in the sun, but a lot are green or brown.
This was shot through one of the windows. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a house that looked like this!
After the bottle house, you get to the main street of town. This was at one time a big town, by early 1900 mining town standards. The town began in 1905 and within 6 months grew to 2500 people. They had 50 bars, gaming tables, prostitution, lodging houses and more. By 1907 they had electric lights and running water for the population of 4000. In 1908 they had a school, hospital, banks and several merchants.
This railway depot was built in 1907 and 3 railroads came through Rhyolite. This is the most complete building, and we were able to go inside. Such an interesting building.
By 1910 the gold was pretty much played out and people were leaving the town. The population dropped to 675 people. All 3 banks closed in 1910, the post office closed in 1913, and the last train left in 1914. By 1920 only 14 people lived in Rhyolite.
Next to the train depot there was this old red caboose.
It was pretty cool from the outside, but the inside was amazing.
I took some great close up photos of the cracked paint to use for texture overlays.
And of course I loved looking at all the old trash that was around the town.
This was a great ghost town to visit, and if you are ever in the area I would recommend going. If you like this type of thing that is. More history on the town can be found on Wikipedia.
Wow, I don’t know what to say; you have struck up yet another memory in my life. I faintly remember that my father LOVED ghost towns, and took us to one when I must have been about 8 years old. It was in California, but all I remember was that it was like an outdoor museum. Looking your your amazing photos, it makes me think how ghostly these places really are. To see OLD, broken glass still in its place, without anyone touching it since who knows when, is chilling, a frozen moment from time. AND THAT HOUSE…..it is full of stories of who built it, how, when, and who lived there.
Compelling photography dear Mary!
Thanks. This is my kind of place to photograph, and tell it’s story.
Oh I wish I could be there…. I love the bottle house and to listen to the wind on such a place is like hearing a story from a time many moons ago :o)
The bottle house was awesome, and yes, the wind has the stories.
What a FABULOUSLY cool ghost town! I have fallen in love with the Bottle House!! Definitely the highlight of my day! It would be really cool to live there! You always find the neatest places to visit.
Very interesting place and pictures!
Oh Mary, I LOVE this ghost town! This is right up my alley. Call me crazy, but I think that bottle house is pretty and I LOVE the history built right into its walls. I can’t get over that he left the bottles intact; I figured he’d have broken off the bases and mortared over the broken edges. I wonder if the glass drew heat into the house? The town name – Rhyolite – looks and sounds like a type of stone! I’m amazed at the superspeed rise and fall of this town – that’s wild! All that work and money put into building viable buisnesses and homes for just a few years?! Fascinating!
The bottle house was great, and yes, all that history. I think he left the bottles intact just because it was probably easier. I read an article about it, and he built it pretty fast. Rhyolite is a stone, so you are correct there. It is crazy how fast these little gold mining towns appeared, then disappeared.
What a place. There is something very special about ghost towns, the history still in the walls if people have all but abandoned them. That house made of bottles is really cool.
Ghost towns are so interesting for the history that lives there. I love them. The bottle house was great.
Wow, so cool. Love the bottle house! The only ghost town I’ve ever been to is Bodie – which I’ve been to several times. So cool to visit these places and think about what life was like back then.
I love the history on these little old towns, always so interesting. The bottle house was incredibly interesting.
We just love seeing cool spots like these. Can’t imagine a bottle house, but it is interesting looking. I guess it could be considered a polka dot house.
very cool!!! A friend of mine is there visiting and just posted a photo of the house!
The bottle house is incredible. What a cool house. Thanks for photographing it so well!!!
And I had to laugh about the 50 bars in what was still a pretty small town :)
Loved this town. I have the same photos of the bottle house:) Loved the Stomach Bitters bottle!
You find the coolest places it’s hard to believe that something like this still exists. It makes for great pictures! Love Dolly
These photos of the ghost town are remarkable, Mary! The beer bottle house is so cool! Can’t imagine the colors under the sun. :)
Thank you for sharing! :)
Hello, the bottle house is very cool. Wonderful find and photos. Enjoy your day!
Your photographs are amazing. You really captured the feel of those buildings and the desolation.
Some tourist bureau needs to be paying you. Because you’re really making me want to explore the Southwest.
Nice job, Mary. You have captured the feel of this place quite well!
Thanks. It was a great place to shoot.
I love old things like this, that glass house was so cool. Was there a lot of light on the inside? I wondered if all those bottles let in lots of light.
I LOVE that type of thing! I love history and I would find that place fascinating. I wish there were places like that in our part of the country. Thanks for sharing, it’s the next best thing to being there! :)