Goldfield Ghost Town, Arizona

Less than an hour's drive from Phoenix, Arizona, is a recreated goldmining town. Goldfield was established in 1893 to support nearby gold mines. Miners lived in town or in tents on the outskirts of town. One miner struck an underground aquifer which flooded the mine, making it impossible to get more gold out. In the 1910s and 1920s, several attempts were made to restart mining, ending in 1926. The area was recreated as a tourist attraction starting in the 1980s. 

We visited in late December, so we didn't worry about snakes or hot weather, in spite of the sign right by the entrance.

Snake alert!

The town recreates the 1890s days, with old time buildings including the bank, the saloon, the bordello, and the chapel. These are not original buildings, they are reconstructions.

No ATM at this bank

The star attraction is a shoot out the street which happens on weekends. Reenactors put on a show with some baddies trying to steal a payroll trunk. The story was a little hard to follow because the crowd was huge and a bit noisy. One reenactor had a hand microphone but he only used at the beginning to give the usual warnings about staying back and covering ears of sensitive people for the gunshots. The show was fun with a bunch of different loud gunshots and a lot of varmints left in the dust by the end.

People rushing to a shoot-out instead of to the gold mine

Getting ready

The bad guys show up

Arguing about something

Shooting at the good guys in the jail

That guy out in the middle is dead meat

The ladies clean up the town (and the guy is indeed dead meat)

The bordello hosts a ghost hunt and stories which we didn't do because it was an extra fee.

House of ill repute

The other side of the house

Just down the street is the church which is free to enter though there are no interactive attractions.

Frontier church

Frontier decor

I wandered out back to find a geocache out by the rusted train engines. 

Needs a little refurbishing

Another attraction is a zip-line which was also pricey and not that interesting to us. 

Someone on the zipline

Zoomed in

The Goldfield Mountains are to the north and quite picturesque. The Superstition Mountains are off to the east and also quite picturesque.

Goldfield Mountains

Superstition Mountains

Walking back downtown I saw the gunfighters relaxing before their next show.

Taking a break

One of the extras we did try was the narrow gauge train that goes around the town. The tickets were a little pricey and the line was really long.

The train station

We took turns standing in line and going into the station to see the exhibits and displays. One wall showed the 100th anniversary celebration of the rescue of a miner who was lost for 10 days in the mine with only a little water and a few candles to eat.

The info on the celebration

A model train runs around the middle of the station.

Not quite what's outside

A Pony Express poster advertises for new employees.

Recruiting orphans?!?

We finally got on the train to have a tour around the periphery.

Our people

The train engineer was the tour guide, first explaining the variety of cactus. 

What you think of as a cactus

Not what you think of as a cactus

The tour continued around the side of town where a recreated mine entrance is closed.

No entry

The train came by the geocache spot though the engineer did not mention it.

I already saw this!

We had another view of the Superstition Mountains.

We were on the wrong side of the train

A small encampment

Several actual mine entrances were visible in the distance.

A nearby mine

The train was far enough from the town to make some nice views of the small rise on which it is built.

The back end of town

The town with Superstition Mountains in the background

A couple of horses on the outskirts

Back at the station, the engineer told us about an unknown miner buried right by the entrance to the town. A large stone marks the grave.

Tomb of the Unknown Miner

Hanging with Grandpa!

We enjoyed our visit to Goldfield Ghost Town. Other things we didn't do were the mine tour and the museum. We did have some snacks (fudge and ice cream). We wandered through some of the shops but did not buy anything.

Walkersville Southern Railroad, Maryland

Walkersville Southern Railroad offers scenic rides in Frederick County, Maryland. The trains run on tracks laid in the 1870s by the Pennsylvania Railroad and take passengers from Walkersville into the outskirts of Frederick, crossing the Monocacy River. We went on a weekend in April when they had Civil War reenactors in the area. The Confederates were out in the fields waiting to ambush the train. On the train were some Yankee soldiers ready to defend us. Also on the train were other people in period garb telling stories and history of the area and the era. Our trip started at the train station.

Walkersville Southern Railroad station

We came early enough that we had ten minutes to check out the museum across the street (and also use the toilets, since the 1920s train cars did not have facilities). The museum is one large room with a lot of items from the history of the railroad, so ten minutes was plenty of time to see everything.

Museum

Lamps

Signs and other brick-a-brac

Tools for building and maintaining the tracks

We were impressed by the "tricycle" we saw below. It has three wheels, is designed to run on the tracks, and requires arm-power rather than pedal-power.

Railroad trike

Auto for the iron road

Engine wheels without a motor?!?

The train station itself is small but typical.

Boarding platform

The ride started off smoothly, going through some lightly-forested areas. 

Not particularly impressive

Once we got to Walkersville Community Park, we heard shots coming from the Rebs!

Train ambush

Gunning for us!

Even though the reenactors were shooting blanks, they still aimed high in the air just in case.

Or maybe they have poor aim?

The guy in the back is taking different kinds of shots

The boys in blue on the train gave as good as they got.

Returning fire

More defenses

One of the civilian reenactors said he was an undertaker and would be happy to make arrangements with any of the passengers who were worried about not returning. He talked about how nice his job was, wearing fine clothes and always having new customers.

Undertaker digging up some business

We passed a lime kiln that was fenced off.

Out of business

The farms along the tracks were nice. One was infested with more rebels!

An idyllic setting

A lone gunman

Using finger guns for defense

Good cover

Less good cover

As we crossed the Monocacy River, we had a good view of the water but not of the bridge. A reenactor said one of their fellow reenactors didn't like crossing the bridge because the train is larger than the bridge and hangs over the water on both sides!

Monocacy River

View in the other direction

We also crossed the Tuscarora Creek which eventually feeds into the Monocacy. The recent rain made it larger than normal.

Tuscarora Creek

As usual, the kids did not want their pictures taken, even back at the station when we could have had shots with the Union soldiers.

At least one happy customer

Getting the evil eye

On the way back, we went by the Confederates again who seemed a little more organized and a little easier to shoot.

Forming up

Ready to shoot

Happy to oblige

Back at the station, we saw a car in someone's driveway that made us think they were reenactors too.

Maybe "cosplayer" is more accurate than "reenactor"

The railroad does some regular train rides, along with dinner rides, Santa rides, and Easter rides. I am not sure we would go again unless it was for a special occasion, like people visiting.