Greetings! Welcome to my first ever blog post. Today, I am going to tell you how it is that I got into Ghost Towns.
I come from a long line of history buffs. My grandpa has always been into civil war reenactments (which I know is very creepy and weird, but I swear he was on Team North). My mother often volunteered at the history museum in our town, spending her Friday nights telling stories about dinosaurs to entertain kids who were sleeping overnight. It was so cool to have a mom that liked dinosaurs.
History was my favorite subject, and I decided to pursue a degree in the subject. One of my favorite parts of history is the American West, and during a class on that topic, a professor told us about Calico, California. It’s was a silver mining outpost from the 1880s, but photos of the old town make it looked like it was a movie set. I was so enamored with it that I wanted to see it for myself. So, during our spring break, when most of my classmates where in Cancun or Palm Springs, I went to Calico.
And, it was amazing. It felt like I had stepped into a time warp, as if I was peering into a generation in which I didn’t belong. Many of the outpost’s original buildings were still standing, although commercialism had come in and gussied up the place for tourists. This made me want to see other places, ghost towns that were rawer. So, I went to Bodie in Mono County, which didn’t have any gift shops or slices of pizza.
When I got back, I read every book I could about ghost towns. I started following online forums about them and met other people just as interested. Now, most of my vacations are to corners of the country long forgotten to see ghost towns.
And, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
