Bodie

I'm baack!  Yes we returned from 10 days in the beautiful Eastern Sierra's in California!  Wonderful!  I will post a bunch of pics later, but first I wanted to tell you about a little town!

Bodie, is a gold mining town about 10 miles off the 395 in the Eastern Sierra's.  Gold was found there in 1859 by a man named Bodey, they changed the spelling when naming the town.  By 1879 there were 10,000 people and 65 saloons!  In 1962 it was made a state park and has been left in 'arrested decay' since then!  This means that all the buildings are locked and you can look through windows and screens to see what remains!  It is very interesting.

While DD and DH were looking at all the old buildings, I was looking at all the old artifacts!  Boy what a treasure trove!  Please excuse the pics they were taken with the lens right up against the glass.

This is the marker that talks about the founding of Bodie.  It is really a cool story!

This is the inside of the church!  Look at those 'schoolhouse' lights!  and the beadboard paneling!

This is the outside of the church.  It is so amazing that these buildings are still standing.  I guess it is because of the cold dry winters, it preserves the wood!

This was just inside a shack!  Look at those tin panels!  I know Donna at Funky Junk Interiors would have a field day with them!  There was so much cool stuff!

Most houses had 10-12 ft ceilings, and look at the awesome moldings!  Plus the old wallpaper!  Oy!

Isn't this a cool old blue stove!  I think this was a saloon at one time, but the blue stove just caught my eye!.

I believe this was a store.  Look at the tin ceiling and the 'schoolhouse' light again!  So many treasures to be found!

Look the cool insulators we all are crazy about in there original usage!  They were all over the place.

I loved how this pic turned out.  I believe that this was an old wherehouse, but I love the old iron doors!
















Here is the old mine.  During its heyday they pulled out $30 million in gold and silver!!!  Yes I said Million!

 

The operated the mine till around 1941, but it was never like it was in the 1870's.  My inlaws remember coming here before it was a state park and you could just walk through everything!  Hope you enjoyed the tour of Bodie!  Lots of cool architecture and artifacts to see!

Have a great day!

Laura