Ghost town - Visit 05.27.13
Hubby and I love visiting ghost towns (Bodie is still my #1) but on the way home from a road trip getaway from Las Vegas we took a little detour to this ghost town. Rhyolite is located 4 miles west of the town of Beatty, Nevada on HWY 374. Before stopping at the tiny visitor center we explored the remnants of Rhyolite's glory days.
Many of the buildings were too far apart to walk and we didn't have a lot of time to spend so we drove to each one. We stopped by the 3-story Cook Bank building. Some of the walls are still standing as is part of the old jail, the Miner's Union Hall, and school. The public is free to roam around the ruins but there are parts in the area where it warns to watch out for rattlesnakes. The train depot is one of the complete buildings left in the town but it is fenced off to the public because it could be a danger to the public. The sign read "Danger Contaminated Site - substances present in this area may be hazardous to your health" [Authorized Personnel Only] allowed. We also visited the Tom Kelly Bottle House. Most of Rhyolite are in ruins but the Bottle House was an exception. Tom Kelly, an enterprising miner, built the bottle house out of 5000 beer and liquor bottles.
TRIVIA: After 1920, Rhyolite became a tourist attraction and even became a setting for movies. List of some movies that have filmed in Rhyolite as well as other areas: CHERRY 2000 [1988], SIX STRING SAMURAI [1998], THE ISLAND [2005], A LINE IN THE SAND [2009], TWICE AS DEAD [2009]. I've never seen any of these movies but made for an interesting part of Rhyolite's history.
Before leaving the area you may also want to stop by the Goldwell Open Air Museum to view the Last Supper sculpture on Golden Street. Here is a video I created of our experience and that tells a little history of this interesting ghost town. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/2vZsGyOouRI
Review #0733