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.