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Bodie, California
The benchmark, and the one to see if you only see one. Bodie became a boomtown after 1877, and California keeps what is left in a state of arrested decay: nothing is rebuilt or prettied up, so you peer through windows at rooms left much as the last residents had them.
It sits at 8,375 feet, reached by 10 miles of paved road and then 3 miles of dirt. In winter it is usually reachable only on skis, snowshoes or a snowmobile. The park closes at 4pm from November to May and at 6pm in summer, so leave time for the last stretch and check the road on the day.
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Rhyolite, Nevada
The clearest lesson in how fast a boom could die. Prospectors found gold here in 1904; electricity arrived in April 1907, a three-story bank went up, and by 1910 only 611 residents remained. The bank's broken walls still stand, and they are the picture everyone takes.
Do not miss the Bottle House, built by a miner from 50,000 beer and liquor bottles, and the train depot, one of the few complete buildings left. It lies just outside Death Valley National Park on the road between Furnace Creek and Beatty, which makes it one of the easiest stops here to fit into a wider trip. The site is a mix of federal and private land, so keep to the open areas.
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Bannack, Montana
Montana's answer to Bodie, and the one to choose if you want to stay the night. Montana's first major gold discovery was made here on July 28, 1862, and Bannack went on to become the first capital of Montana Territory, a title it held only briefly.
Over 50 log and frame buildings line Main Street. The state park has a 28-site campground, so you can see the street empty at dusk, and Bannack Days on the third weekend of July fills it with re-enactors and displays. Come outside that weekend if you want it quiet.
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Kennecott, Alaska
The most remote and the most dramatic. Kennecott is a red copper company town beside the Kennicott Glacier inside Wrangell-St Elias National Park, and its 14-story timber mill is like nothing else in the West. Copper ore first left by rail in 1911, and by the time the operation closed in 1938 it had produced ore valued at $200 million in the money of the day.
Getting there is the adventure: the McCarthy Road is 59 miles of narrow gravel with no fuel along it, so fill up at Chitina, then a footbridge and 5 miles more by summer shuttle or on foot. Plan on staying at least a night. Parts of the site are still private, so keep to park land and respect the signs.
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Garnet, Montana
A small, honest gold camp in the timber, and the best place on this list to spend a winter night. Garnet had about a thousand residents in its 1890s boom and emptied when the gold ran out, leaving remarkably intact wooden buildings among the pines.
In summer it is a gravel drive off Montana Highway 200 and the visitor center is usually open daily. From January to April the road is closed to wheeled vehicles, and the Bureau of Land Management rents two rustic cabins with no electricity or plumbing that you reach on skis, snowshoes or a snowmobile. Book through Recreation.gov, where reservations open on October 1.
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Saint Elmo, Colorado
Colorado's easiest high-country ghost town, and a good one with children. St Elmo lines a single street in Chalk Creek Canyon, 19 miles up County Road 162 from Nathrop, southwest of Buena Vista, and is one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the West, with its weathered wooden storefronts still in a row.
The road is fine for a two-wheel-drive car in summer. The general store opens seasonally, roughly May to September, and sells seed for the tame chipmunks, which are half the reason families come. A few people still live in town, so treat the buildings as private and look from the street.
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Animas Forks, Colorado
The highest and wildest stop here, for anyone driving the Alpine Loop in the San Juan Mountains. Animas Forks sits at about 11,200 feet, just over 12 miles northeast of Silverton, and its two-story Duncan House, built in 1879, still stands among the stabilized buildings, with interpretive signs telling the town's story.
The unimproved road up from Silverton is passable by two-wheel-drive cars in summer, but the roads beyond the town need a high-clearance four-wheel drive. The route is best from May to October, so this is a summer and early fall trip.
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Silver City, Idaho
The ghost town that never quite emptied. Silver City was the seat of Owyhee County until 1934 and, at its height, had around 2,500 people. About 70 structures from the 1860s to the early 1900s still stand in the Owyhee Mountains, and the Idaho Hotel still takes overnight guests from around the end of May to the start of October.
The trade-off is access and ownership. The approach from Murphy is a long, slow dirt road, usually closed by snow from late fall into spring, and every building is privately owned. Treat it as a village you are visiting, not a museum.
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Grafton, Utah
The odd one out, and a welcome change from mining camps: a pioneer farming village on the Virgin River near Zion National Park, settled to grow cotton, under red cliffs that make it the most beautiful setting on this list. Film fans will know it from the bicycle scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, shot against the schoolhouse and the Russell home.
Only a handful of buildings remain, including the adobe schoolhouse of 1886, restored by the Grafton Heritage Partnership, and the pioneer cemetery is a short way off. The schoolhouse is usually viewed from outside. It makes an easy half-day add-on to a Zion trip, reached from Rockville.
More about Grafton, Utah10
Vulture City, Arizona
Arizona's best ghost town for a winter road trip. Henry Wickenburg found gold here in 1863, and at its peak around 5,000 people lived and worked at what became the richest gold mine in Arizona's history. The government shut the mine during World War II, and the town was soon abandoned.
Many original buildings still stand, from the stone assay office and the cookhouse to Henry Wickenburg's own cabin and the twisted ironwood known as the hanging tree, and restoration has gone on since 2017. It is privately owned and opens in the cooler months, roughly October to May, with self-guided daytime visits and evening flashlight tours, so check the days before driving out of Wickenburg on Vulture Mine Road.
More about Vulture City, Arizona11
Shakespeare, New Mexico
New Mexico's pick, and an easy break from Interstate 10. Rich silver ore found in the hills in 1870 started the camp; a diamond rush followed that turned out to be a hoax reported across the country, then a second boom from 1879 under the name Shakespeare, until the railroad passed about three miles away and the 1893 depression closed the mines.
Frank and Rita Hill bought the town as a ranch in 1935, and their family's preservation work since is why its buildings survive. It is still privately owned and seen on guided tours, run at set times when a guide is available, so call ahead before making the short drive south from Lordsburg.
More about Shakespeare, New Mexico12
Berlin Historic District (Berlin, Nevada)
Two reasons to make the long drive into central Nevada for the price of one. Berlin's mine was established in 1896 and the town was dead by 1911, but its 30-stamp mill survives alongside the assay office, cabins and other weathered buildings on a self-guided loop through the townsite.
The same state park protects North America's most abundant concentration of the largest-known ichthyosaur fossils, one group of them left where it was found inside a metal shelter, the Fossil House, with daily tours from Memorial Day to Labor Day and weekend tours the rest of the year. That suits a family where not everyone is a mining enthusiast. It is remote, with services only back at Gabbs, so carry water and fuel.
More about Berlin Historic District (Berlin, Nevada)13
South Pass City, Wyoming
The ghost town with the biggest story. South Pass City was laid out in 1867 around the Carissa gold mine and peaked about 1870, and in 1869 a local saloonkeeper, William Bright, introduced the bill that made Wyoming the first government in the world to give women the vote. Esther Morris then served here as justice of the peace, one of the first women to hold the job.
Today it is a state historic site with more than 20 original buildings, most of them carefully restored, a short drive off the highway south of Lander. The historic buildings open from Memorial Day to mid-October; the grounds and trails stay open all year, weather permitting.
More about South Pass City, Wyoming14
Elkhorn, Montana
Come for two buildings, and they are worth it. Elkhorn boomed on silver, and its long fade ended symbolically when the Northern Pacific pulled up its rail line in 1931. Two buildings now make up Montana's smallest state park: Fraternity Hall, built in 1893 for dances, concerts, meetings and the town's fraternal lodges, and its neighbor Gilliam Hall. They may well be the most photographed buildings in the state.
The rest of the camp is privately owned, so this is a short, respectful look from the street rather than a day trip. The park is open all year on a pack-in, pack-out basis.
More about Elkhorn, Montana15
Cerro Gordo, California
A ghost town being brought back, for readers who like to watch history being handled in real time. Cerro Gordo, high in the Inyo Mountains above Owens Lake, was bought in 2018 by private owners who have since been restoring it; its American Hotel burned down in June 2020, and they set out to rebuild it.
It is privately owned, so visits are on the owners' terms: the town says it is open every day from 9am to 5pm, with no appointment needed. The way up is a county-maintained dirt road of just under 8 miles from Highway 136, where four-wheel drive is recommended, so check the town's own announcements before setting off.
More about Cerro Gordo, California16
Calico, California
The ghost town as theme park, and honest about it. Calico was founded as a silver camp in the Mojave in 1881 and abandoned in the mid-1890s after silver lost its value; in the 1950s Walter Knott, of Knott's Berry Farm, bought it and rebuilt all but five original buildings to look as they had in the 1880s, then gave it to San Bernardino County in 1966.
So this is a reconstruction, not a survivor, and purists should go to Bodie instead. But it is a few minutes off Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, has shops, a restaurant and attractions for children, and is a painless first taste of the subject for a family that might then want the real thing.
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