Bodie, California

Another town added to our western adventure!

Bodie State Historic Park is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. Visitors can walk down the deserted streets of a town that once had a population of nearly 10,000 people. The town is named for Waterman S. Body (William Bodey), who had discovered small amounts of gold in hills north of Mono Lake. In 1875, a mine cave-in revealed pay dirt, which led to purchase of the mine by the Standard Company in 1877. People flocked to Bodie and transformed it from a town of a few dozen to a boomtown.

Only a small part of the town survives, preserved in a state of "arrested decay." Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Designated as a National Historic Site and a State Historic Park in 1962, the remains of Bodie are being preserved in a state of "arrested decay". Today this once thriving mining camp is visited by tourists, howling winds and an occasional ghost.

U2’s album “The Joshua Tree” released on March 9, 1987. Today, that album is among the most popular albums ever released. While most people recognize the Joshua tree (the tree, not the album) because of U2, many people don’t know that U2 visited Bodie!

Those who attended one of The Joshua Tree concerts and bought the Tour Program would have seen the pictures below of U2 in Bodie, CA.

After the band rented a bus in Reno, NV, they headed south to Joshua Tree. A random stop along the way at Bodie allowed photographer Anton Corbijn to get these wonderful photos.