Bodie State Park

Bodie State Park

Bodie State Park immerses visitors in fascinating tales of the past

Bodie State Park preserves a ghost town and offers rich heritage, and is a captivating historical site.

I can’t believe as a “state park brat” I have never been to Bodie State Park.  But now I can say I have.  Bodie State Historic Park is a genuine gold-mining historic ghost town and as large as it is now, it is only about 5% of the buildings that originally stood in this town.  The cool thing about this town is that you can peek in the windows and walk down the streets to see things just as they were.  It is like they just left everything just as it was when they left.  Visiting Bodie ghost town is a look into the past.  The state calls it a state of  “arrested decay”.

What happened to Bodie?

After Bodie’s heyday, 1877-1881, most buildings fell victim to fire and the elements.  Bodie’s elevation is above 7000′ and they have rough winters (snow as high as 20′ and winds up to 100 mph, temperatures down to 30-40 below 0).  Many residents died of exposure or disease.

The Gold Rush

Bodie became a boom town due to the Gold Rush.  Gold was discovered there in 1859.  Mining progressed at a slow pace until 1875 when a mine collapsed and revealed a rich body of gold ore.  Then the boom began!  The town’s population reached around 8,000 people at that point.  The town is also known for its stamp mills.  Heavy iron rods, known as stamps broke up quartz rock containing gold and silver.  Mining discontinued around 1942.

During the peak, Bodie was a wild town, with more than 60 saloons and even opium dens in Chinatown.  Some of the saloon remains can be seen today in Bodie ghost town.

Bodie State Historic Park

The California State Park system purchased Bodie in 1962 to preserve the historic buildings and artifacts.  Unlike some historic sites that choose a specific time period to portray, this town shows different periods of time.  Houses that were built in the 1870s, the Standard Mill from the late 1890s, gas pumps from the 1920s, and a schoolhouse that was used until 1942.   There is a church, built-in 1882, still standing.

There is a museum and gift shop at Bodie State Park, and we purchased a self-guided walking tour for $3 – I highly recommend doing this as you can then pinpoint the buildings, and get their history and usage.  It is quite informative.  Unfortunately, the museum was closed during our visit due to the pandemic, so we were only able to purchase the guide and not see some of the displays there.

The road to the park is long – 13 miles, with the last 3 miles rough dirt road.  The park is out of Bridgeport, California.  We were staying at Twin Lakes when we visited Bodie State Park.  Trailers are not advised.  An entrance fee is charged at the park, and there are no discounts for the disabled even with the pass in hand.

I took a lot of pictures, didn’t turn out too bad considering most were taken through the old glass on my iPhone!  See the Bodie State Park slideshow below…