Tiny houses are not a new thing and we can learn from our history. JT recently went on vacation in Wyoming and visited a couple of Ghost Towns along the way. He took pictures and shared them with me. I have chosen some of my favorite from the town of South Pass City, Wyoming. JT will tell us a little about them.
South Pass City is an old Gold Mining Ghost Town in Wyoming about 5 miles down a dirt road from Atlantic City.
Most of the Original buildings are still standing and have been restored to original condition inside and out with original furnishings. No boby lives in South pass City today, it’s a museum and walking through it is like walking back through time to the 1800’s. You will see a Hotel, Butcher shop, school house, jail that was later converted to a school house and more.
Here’s an interesting fact. When the hotel was full in South pass City and someone needed a room they would put you in the same room as a stranger who had rented it before you got there. The rooms only had 1 bed and one dresser with a chamber pot. They told the story of a man who had come to town and needed a room and the hotel clerk said he would have to share a room with the school mom. the guy told the clerk: “I’ll have you know I’m a gentleman” and the clerk replied “So is she.”
If you live near a ghost town, go see what tiny houses were like back than and share some pictures with me and the Tiny House Blog.
Thanks for posting that Kent,
We really enjoyed walking through the old ghost towns of South Pass City and Atlantic City, Wyoming. I was really taken back at how little people had back then and yet they were happy. I know this because I’ve been reading a book by Betty Carpenter PFAFF called FINE GOLD. Betty grew up in South Pass City and Atlantic City during the gold mine boom days and her kids convinced her to write a book about it before all the memories were gone forever. Her book is filled with pictures and stories from back then and her ole friends also wrote her their stories about their life in South Pass and Atlantic City and she put those stories in her book.
JT
I love it. It seems to be a more authentic-feeling old west setting (although I am more than a few years shy of first-hand knowledge).
My wife once took me to an old abandoned country neighborhood where she grew up. The old, one-room stone house still stood…eery, but very much with a vintage, primitive feel. It had been built by her Irish-immigrant grandparents at the turn of the last century.
And then when I was a kid, we briefly lived in an old Cherokee cabin built in the mid-1800’s. The cabin was covered in deer hides to help keep the cold air from getting through.
I’d love to go back and see if it is still standing and document the cabin. Don’t know.
Dear hides? Wow.
Dear DEER hides. It was a tradition that when we got a deer that the hunter had to tan the hide and nail it up somewhere on the cabin that needed the extra protection from the wind.
Of course older hides would eventually succomb to coyotes, mice, rats, and cracking from the sun. But rather than pull it down, you just nailed a newer one on top.
Weird, huh?
I’d think that that would make for a chilly cabin. I mean, that stuff isn’t really durable. Yikes. It’s enough to make me shiver!
I wonder who ‘owns’ these ghost towns. Might be a simple was to plan a community 🙂
Im with Russ. My family has always toyed with the idea of our own little town/community. I don’t know about this particular ghost town but Bodie in Nevada (highly recommended) is a state park. I wonder how many places have been left to decay and weren’t rescued like these treasures?
Thanks JT for the post, it’s a wonderful piece of history.
I think you mean school “marm” instead of school “mom”.
I oughta know… I are one!
That would be schoolmarm.
My dads father was a cowhand in Wyoming a long time ago and would have loved this. I once went on a trip on hwy 50 in Nevada and enjoyed the old ghost towns with him. Thanks for bringing back a wonderful memory.
wyoming, where they have two seasons. winter and the 4th of july!