Bodie, California
Bodie, California, is a ghost town on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States, about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe. It is located at 38° 12′ 42″ N 119° 00′ 46″ W, at an elevation of 8369 feet (2550 m).3
The town was founded by William S. Bodey (a.k.a. Waterman S. Body, who the town was named after) after he struck gold here in 1859. In 1877, the Standard Company discovered a profitable deposit of gold and a gold rush transformed Bodie from a town of 20 people to a boomtown. As a boomtown, Bodie was famous for its lawlessness. At its peak, it had 60 saloons. Murders were a constant occurrence. Legend has it that a girl, upon finding out that she was moving there, wrote in her diary, "Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie."
Bodie is most unusual amongst ghost towns in that a small population remained here well after the gold mines shut down. Bodie did not completely fade until the late 1930s, after a fire ravaged much of the downtown business district. In 1962, it became a state park, and is maintained in a state of arrested decay.
Bodie State Historic Park is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. Visitors can walk down the deserted streets of a town that once had a population of 10,000 people.
Only a small part of the town survives. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Designated as a National Historic Landmark as a Historic District in 1961 and a State Historic Park in 1962, the remains of Bodie are being preserved.