After wandering the dark, dank buildings, explore beaches and take in the sights of the majesty of the region. When visiting, you can walk on and inside the old battery buildings, which is an incredible experience for all ages. A ferry ride away, Fort Worden is in Port Townsend, while Fort Flagler is south of Fort Worden. Set around the northern entrance to Puget Sound, the three forts near the towns of Coupeville and Port Townsend can be explored any time of year.įort Casey is found near Coupeville and is the only fort of the three found on the eastern side of the Sound. The Triangle of Fireįew abandoned spots in Washington are as easy to explore as the three forts (Fort Flagler, Fort Casey and Fort Worden)that make up the Triangle of Fire, which was built to protect the region’s shipping lanes more than 100 years ago. Photo courtesy of Whidbey and Camano Islands Tourism. Those who make the trip to the old town, which now rests on private property, can see the structures from the west side of the river. The town’s post office closed in 1970, and now the town has only a few residents. Rumor has it that the town once housed thousands of miners. One of the oldest mining areas in Washington, with mining claims dating back to the 1860s, many of Nighthawk’s abandoned buildings, including the hotel, mine buildings and the brothel, still rest in a picturesque valley. West of Oroville and almost as close to Canada as Molson, the ghost town of Nighthawk awaits your adventure. Today, you can explore the town as part of an outdoor museum that has been in operation since the 1960s.
In 1905, a Great Northern Railroad route passed through Molson, but the stop in town was discontinued in 1935 when the mining in the region was exhausted. Molson, funded by the same Molson family famous for beer, was a mining boom town, boasting an estimated population of 300 in 1900, complete with stores, a saloon, a hotel and a few other buildings. Unlike Bodie and Govan, Molson still looks like a small western town, complete with the architecture one expects to see from a town founded in 1898. MolsonĮast of Oroville in the Okanogan, just a mile from Canada, Molson is one of the ghost towns in Washington that you still can explore. Photo courtesy of Okanogan County Tourism Council. A few wooden buildings remain on both sides of the road, but there is no access to the structures, because they are located on private property and entering the property or buildings is considered trespassing. The town had a short history, removing gold from the nearby hills and operating as a mining spot in the late 1800s through the early 1900s. Located a dozen miles north of the “town” of Wauconda on Highway 20, the old mining town of Bodie is a classic ghost town in Washington. If you blink, you may just miss the ghost town of Bodie. Photo courtesy of Russ and Kerry, The Roads We Roam. Lewis and his wife, Penelope, in their home in 1902 was called the “most brutal crime ever committed in this county” by a local newspaper. Hoping for a sighting of the ghosts of Govan? Many murders occurred in this tiny town, but one stands out. The steeple has now toppled over, a precursor to the fate of the town’s remaining abandoned structures.
Those who do visit this town will enjoy seeing the dilapidated old schoolhouse (pictured), which was open for 37 years. Today, the town is still an important grain shipping terminal for area farms, as locally grown barley is loaded directly to rail cars for shipment. The town’s post office and final business closed in 1967. By 1933, Highway 2’s bypass of the town solidified its fate. Govan early on sported a higher population that once reached more than 100 but struggled to recover after a fire ravaged the town in 1927. With a population of just three residents in 2019, this was once a farming hub and a stop on the Central Washington Railway in 1889. Just south of the Grand Coulee Dam and moments off Highway 2, the mostly abandoned town of Govan rests, nearly silent. Whether it’s buildings slowly falling on the prairies of eastern Washington, old towns hidden deep in the forests of the Cascades or abandoned barracks lining the beaches of Puget Sound, spooky adventures easily can be had around the Evergreen State.Ĭheck out our picks of 10 desolate places that you can drive or hike to explore. Remember entering some of these buildings may be considered trespassing. These are places where dreams died, fortunes were lost and time has passed over. Thanks in part to the 19th Century gold rush, the rail industry and logging, Washington has a number of ghost towns, abandoned communities and camps that are worth visiting. 10 Destinations to Get Your Autumn Chills and Thrills
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