Skoukor Facts | Facts Page

Jump to Fact

Today's Issue		Friday 10th January 2025

Share: Facebook | Twitter | Whatsapp | Linkedin Visits: 95

Ghost Towns Have Become Major Tourist Attractions

by Marla Hemsley
November 30 2024

Ghost towns are abundant on the North America Continent and are often a destination for travelers and vacationers. A Ghost town, or abandoned city, are extinct towns which became abandoned because of many factors, such as disasters like floods, extreme weather like prolonged heat or cold, economic downturns, gold, coal and other minerals dried up, crop disasters that forced the inhabitants to look elsewhere for necessities of life; or even pollution, radiation and war.

Ghost towns offer tourists the possibility of reliving the times of old in towns with buildings of period-specific architecture, at least as long as they remain standing. Many towns still have a few occupants or have since been repopulated because of the support offered by tourists, and the buildings are sometimes maintained. Many of these ghost towns are places that were populated once, but when the railroad lines were laid, towns in the northern plains were bypassed. There are attractions in Barkerville, British Columbia, Canada; Oatman, Arizona; Bodie, California; and Bannack, Montana.

The ghost town in Bodie, California is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as others. Both Bodie and Calico sought to become the official Gold Rush Ghost Town and when a compromise was reached it was settled that Calico, California would become the official silver rush ghost town of California, and Bodie, California would become the official gold rush ghost town of California.