silver city ghost town

Aristacah

Historical and haunted. What better combination can there be?Izzy, the official greeter, will assist you while you tour the quaint little village that Jay has created. Jay put a lot of love into recreating an old mining town and he has succeeded. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience there. Izzy inspects and approves everyone who visits and makes sure they pass his inspection. Expect a few kitty headbutts.But is it haunted? Yes, it is. We verified it through the use of electronic equipment created specifically for ghost hunting, (not cheap phone apps). Visit their website and see for yourself!If you're just going for the history and ambiance, you'll be happy you did. You'll feel as though you've stepped back into time into Silver City, complete with homes, a church, a jail, the Marshal's office and even a bordello.Night time tours are available. Contact Silver City for more information. We're happy we went and we'll be back again!

87StephanieB

The owner put in a lot of work to create this "ghost town". I enjoyed reading about all the different buildings and where they came from. The collection of stuff he has here is quite impressive. Izzy the cat will hang out with you as you take your self-guided tour. I'm not one that whole heartly believes in ghosts but I'm pretty sure the jail is haunted. The drive from Bakersfield is about an hour so it's an easy day trip.

870robertk

We enjoyed this collection of historic structures. Nice owner and sidekick guide cat. It was me ..my wife..and teen niece. We had fun. I am glad that somebody went to the trouble to collect and preserve these buildings. We like cool stuff like this so it was great. I read about it in a paper and it was clipped on to my vans dash for months till we had a chance to see it. It was better than i thought.

rain69

Have always been fascinated by the stories of The West and coming here was a little glimpse into life as it was. Yes, it is a collection of houses that have been placed here, but the history of some of them is really interesting and it sure makes for excellent photo opportunities! We paid the price to the groundsman/owner (come on, its only a few dollars - really its not expensive!), who is brilliant and will tell you all about the site if you want - and then we were left to ourselves - we spent an hour just wandering and taking pictures, we were the only ones there! Very atmospheric and lots of info. I just loved it and came away with the most wonderful pictures that we now have hung on our wall....

DeathValleyJim

Silver City is located in downtown Bodfish, just a few short miles from Lake Isabella. It is not a ghost town by definition, but more of a makeshift ghost town. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Mills family began hauling old buildings from neighboring communities to the site in an effort to preserve them. There are currently over 20 historic buildings from the town sites of Keyesville, Whiskey Flat, old Isabella, Claraville, Hot Springs, Miracle, and South Fork.For a small fee, visitors may stroll through the town site, entering a number of the buildings, which are decorated with artifacts of the time period. The current owners of Silver City have adopted a policy like that of Bodie, to leave the buildings in a state of “arrested decay”.The makeshift ghost town has been used as the set for a number of television programs, movies, and commercials.Over the years there have been numerous reports of haunting in the relocated structures. The owners regularly host ghost hunts.

apsocalal4

This is not a real Ghost town, but is a make believe town made out of donated / refurbished buildings from several old mining towns in the Lake Isabella area. The owner tries to pass it off as Haunted, and even holds lamp light tours at night --- $12 a person, you may not see a ghost, but the information you receive while on the tour is worth the $12 bucks.

NinjaJeff

Good history of all the buildings as well as a nice inclusive history of the surrounding area. They have some animals that are super friendly that greet you as you walk around the ghost town, consists of twenty something buildings.

ClawMarks

We happened upon Silver City Ghost Town while staying in Kernville. It just happened to be Halloween week and they were having night lantern tours with paranormal investigators and their gear. Unfortunately our weekend was too packed and we had to just do the daytime wander. The buildings have all been moved from locations where they were set to be destroyed. I love Old West/gold rush history stuff and these buildings are great. I don't mind paying a few bucks to help them get the buildings in shape. Some of their décor is a little cheesy (they could use some new characters in the saloon)...but it's a fun place for pictures for sure. We had a good time and though I didn't see a single ghost we did meet Izzy the Ghost Town Cat (with his own Facebook page). FUN!

bobsacerdo

Silver City has been up and down over the years, but the current owners have done a great job of upgrading and adding interest to the historical buildings and items. It's a great one hour visit if ypou're in the area.

ggmalcolm

We took our grandson to see a real live western shoot-out. He was 9 years old at the time and he LOVED it!

RogerF679

This place costs way too much for what you get. Your admission fee entitles you to wander around a dirt lot and look into old buildings that used to be spread around the area. Yawn! Save your money and find something more interesting to do.

CanTravel3

I recommend a visit to this interesting and well maintained ghost town. Many local surviving structures were brought to this Bodfish site to show how an abandoned local gold outpost would have looked like. You can walk into the jail, and peer into historic salons, shops and a miner's cabin adorned with cool artifacts. There is a small admission fee of about $5 per person and well worth it. The caretaker is very friendly and will answer all your questions and curiosities. Kids and adults will enjoy the stop.

socaltrekkie

We had a hard time finding the place and there was not a whole lot there. I much prefer Calico ghost town. I know that Calico is more of a tourist trap then Silver City, but I think its better maintained.

Larzio

If you're passing through the area, spend the time to go see it. It will make your day. It's a nice little piece of California history

Rannadannado

took the grandkids for a fun day of history. it was easy to find and the people where so friendly. we took turns reading the history signs and explaining things in kid terms..we stayed for the gun show. wow that was great and put things in perspective.