7 unique ghost towns in Nevada’s Great Basin that time forgot

Time Stood Still In These Deserted Places

Scattered across Nevada’s Great Basin are towns that once had businesses, homes, and people. Many were built during mining booms and later abandoned. Some have a few structures left, while others still have buildings, cemeteries, and old saloons.

If you want to see places with history, here are seven ghost towns in Nevada that you can visit.

Rhyolite

This place wasn’t some little mining camp. It had power, a three-story bank, and over 50 saloons. In 1908, about 8,000 people lived here. You can still see the train depot, the remains of the bank, and the Bottle House, which is exactly what it sounds like.

If you walk past the main part of town, you’ll find ruins people don’t talk about as much. The old miner’s cabins, collapsed tunnels, and equipment rusting into the ground will greet you upon your visit.

Belmont

This town never fully died. A few people still own land here and visit when it’s not too hot. The courthouse is one of the best-preserved 1800s buildings in Nevada. You can still see old documents inside, and the woodwork looks almost new.

The mill ruins go on for acres. Some of the stone walls are still standing, and if you poke around, you’ll find old mining tools stuck in the dirt. The cemetery is quiet, but a few graves still get flowers from descendants.

Berlin

Berlin is part of a state park now, so it’s a little more protected than other ghost towns. The stamp mill is still standing, which is rare. If you want to see what an actual mining operation looks like, this is the place.

The bunkhouses still have their original wooden walls. If you walk past the marked paths, you’ll find rusted-out gears and old mining carts buried in the sand. It’s dry enough here that things don’t rot. They just sit where they were left.

Goldfield

Goldfield still has a few people, but it feels like a ghost town.

In 1906, it was the biggest city in Nevada, with over 20,000 people. It had the most expensive hotel between San Francisco and Chicago. Now? Mostly empty buildings and abandoned mines.

The old high school is one of the creepiest buildings in the state. The Goldfield Hotel was once the peak of luxury, and now it’s just a shell. The mines still hold gold, but it’s not enough to bring people back.

Eureka

While this place never fully shut down, it feels frozen in time. It’s right on U.S. Route 50, known as the “Loneliest Road in America,” and it still has a handful of working businesses. The old newspaper office still has its original printing equipment.

The Sentinel Museum is inside one of the oldest buildings in town, and the brickwork hasn’t changed much since the 1800s. You can still find pieces of old machinery sitting outside town, too.

Hamilton

Hamilton burned down so many times that it never recovered. In 1868, it had about 12,000 people, making it the second-largest city in Nevada.

Now, it’s just stone foundations and scattered ruins. The old courthouse was massive, but a fire destroyed most of it. If you walk around, you can still see where the streets used to be. The cemetery is hidden in the hills, and the wind here never stops.

Feels like a place that was never meant to last.

Pioche

Pioche was so wild that lawmen had to be brought in from California to keep order. 

People used to say more men were buried here from gunfights than from natural causes. The violence eventually died down, but the town never fully recovered.

The old tramway still has ore buckets hanging in the air, rusted in place. The courthouse sat empty for decades because the town couldn’t afford to finish paying for it. 

There’s even a hotel built in the 1940s that people say is haunted, but the real ghosts are in the abandoned mines.