Boomtowns

Built in 1869, this one-room rural schoolhouse welcomes visitors to travel back to 1904 school day.

A monument commemorating the antimony mine that once operated in this Melbourne suburb.

This ramshackle ghost town is comprised of mining-era buildings collected from around the region.

The ruins of this former mining boomtown once housed over 3,000 people. Now, the population is two.

These huge stone ovens in the desert fueled the Nevada silver boom, and may have also been a hideout for outlaws.

The first U.S. town to secede from the Union, only to vote themselves right back in.

"You don't need a rocket scientist to build a steam engine, but we've got one." -Museum docent on the credentials of a restoration volunteer.

This former boomtown "island" is now submerged below Folsom Lake.

A rich history stashed behind an unassuming door in the heart of Gold Country.

The oldest continuously operating Catholic school west of the Mississippi.

Established in 1853, this crumbling cemetery sits forgotten on the corner of Church and Chapel in Gold Country.

Built in 1895, this bed and breakfast was once a hospital that served an early 1900s Gold Rush boomtown.

There's nothing creepier than a cemetery next to a clown motel.

Once an unstoppable source of gold and silver, this town came to a grinding stop when the groundwater proved deadly.

This fully intact Neoclassical-Greek Revival style firehouse operated until 1938.

California's oldest existing theater building hosted an impressive cast of celebrities, including hosting Mark Twain's first lecture.

An abandoned lot littered with concrete debris was once the home of the world's first female railroad president.

The modest home of the very immodest dancer who cost a king his crown.