Bodie, California
The Wheaton and Hollis Hotel, part of the abandoned ghost town of Bodie, California.
Updated January 2017 | By Matthew Christopher
Founded in 1859 as a small camp after the discovery of gold in the hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Bodie never really found prominence until 1876. A larger deposit of gold ore drew more settlers and by 1879 the town had grown to 5,000-7,000. Other strikes drew miners away and by 1910 the number of inhabitants had dropped below 700 and it was called a 'ghost town' as early as 1915. A few residents remained into the 1940s, and the property was made into a state park in 1962. Visitors can visit the site most days now and see a rare and precious example of what life was like there over 150 years ago.
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