Nevadaville Ghost Town

The Masonic Block of Nevadaville. Inside is a masonic temple complete with painting of George Washington.

Nevadaville is a small ghost town near the gambling centers of Central City and Blackhawk. I drove there recently with my parents who wanted to see a Colorado ghost town. The day was bitterly cold and the sky was spitting snow. I could not imagine living in a small hovel during a Colorado winter, but certainly many did. The lure of riches kept many a man shivering.

Mining ruins that are already being reclaimed by the land.

6,000 people once lived in Nevadaville, which has also been called Nevada City, Nevada, and Bald Mountain. Gold, silver, and thirteen saloons drew many to the stark landscape. You can get there now via the Central City Parkway, but back in the day, the town was quite isolated.

Bits of a stone wall that stood alone on a bare hillside. What memories do these cold stones contain?

Nevadaville's boom occurred from 1860-1870 with occasional spurts in later years. I have to wonder if history will look back upon Colorado's famous ski towns (Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge etc) with just as much nostalgia and wonder what it was like to live during the boom times.

For fun, I played with the photos of the area to give the the reader the sensation of gazing through through an old photograph.

An aluminum-sided mining ruin. I have not seen many of these. Another accessible one is at the trailhead for Wheeler Lake just south of Breckenridge.