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Eniko Polgar, Unsplash
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Church in the background
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Chris M Morris
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Eric Marty, unsplash
Wooden house in Bodie.
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Steve L Martin
The Methodist church in Bodie.
Words Olivia Richman for MobileRVing.com
With over 200 abandoned buildings, Bodie State Historic Park is the largest unrestored ghost town in the country. Houses, stores, bars, churches – walking through what's left of the once prosperous mining town gives visitors an idea of how life may have been throughout the town's rich history. Over 100 years of activity took place all around each footstep visitors take, a true walk back in time. Said Business Manager Terri Geissinger: “We are an authentic ghost town where you can still capture the essence of the past. And the past was wild.”
After gold was discovered in the area in 1859, Bodie became a mining town for gold and silver. The boom years of the town were short lived, lasting from 1877 through 1882, but it was enough to create a rich history and atmosphere: During that time over 8,000 people lived in Bodie and there were over 70 saloons and over 200 restaurants. There was ten men for every one woman.
“This was a wild town,” explained Geissinger. “It was a typical mining town, full of drinking and prostitution. There wasn't even a church until 1882. It was known as the City Of Sin On Top of the Mountain. It's most often known for the violence.”
Bodie is in a remote area in the eastern sierra in Sacramento, California. At an altitude of 8,400 feet, Bodie is above the tree lines in an area that's considered the “high desert.” This creates some extreme temperatures, said Geissinger, who stated that the coldest Bodie has been is a record 40 degrees below zero. Bodie is often the coldest place in the country, making it a rough place to live.
Despite the extreme conditions, gold miners were able to stick it out, bringing in over $100 million of gold and silver (and that's in 1880s money, when gold was $20 an ounce, making it worth even more today).
The success found in Bodie began to change the town's demographic. Families started to move in. Over 600 children were enrolled in school. Churches were built. Baseball teams were formed. There were dances every Saturday night.
All types of businesses moved into Bodie, making it the main hub of the eastern sierra in the early 1900s into the 30s. Said Geissinger: “What people find surprising is that it's not this terrible, harsh place to live, which is their first impression. In actuality, this was cutting edge technology, all creature comforts of the time, from electricity early, hospitals, doctors, even dairy farms that delivered milk. They were a very sophisticated community. In those times, it was a very nice place to live.”
So why leave?
In 1932 there were two big fires that took out most of the town. The second fire destroyed 70 percent of Bodie. Many families left the once booming community, leaving nine families. After the gold rush and the Great Depression, these nine families didn't have anywhere else to go and they were able to survive with what was left of Bodie, said Geissinger, who added: “And thank god they did, because they preserved the town.”
The ghost town is so preserved, in fact, that there are artifacts all over the town, untouched since the 30s. “We have a general store that has everything still in it on the shelf, ready to open up for business today,” said Geissinger. “We also have a hotel that is fully furnished with a dining room and kitchen that's fully stocked. It's being able to step back in time and seeing it all right in front of you. You don't have to imagine it. It's right here to see.”
At one time these weren't artifacts, but families' lives. What's now preserved as a museum was once just home for some brave families, living in a town where their grandparents had once lived.
The mission of Bodie is to preserve the past for future generations. With well over 1,000 guests each day, offering book and guided tours of Bodie has generated enough money to continue preserving the buildings.
Geissinger is a historian and has lived in the area almost all of her life. She has been working at Bodie for 16 years. Always interested in the 1800s, Gessinger said she likes to say that “all roads lead to Bodie.” In a further attempt to protect and preserve Bodie, Geissinger is leading the Bodie Resident Research Project, where she regularly speaks with families from the area who had relatives who lived in Bodie.
“It's important to our history because if you have family that has been in our country for a long time, your family came from a place like Bodie,” said Geissinger. “Because of modern days dozing over old sites, Bodie is a remnant of your past – your family came from or dealt with a town like this. It's for all of us to reach back into our own heritage. This is the best example of the Old West.”