The best thing about what was once the mining township of Rhyolite, when compared to other ghost towns of Nevada, is its accessibility. Four miles west of Beatty, off NV Hwy 374, the State of Nevada Historic Townsite features crumbling stone buildings, including the skeletal remains of a three-story bank, the 1906 Tom Kelly Bottle House and the handsome Las Vegas–Tonopah railroad station. Bring your camera.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Rhyolite Ghost Town

0.07 MILES

Just outside the Death Valley eastern park boundary (about 35 miles from Furnace Creek), Rhyolite epitomizes the hurly-burly, boom-and-bust story of…

2. Goldwell Open Air Museum

0.53 MILES

Near the ghost town of Rhyolite, just east of Death Valley National Park, this outdoor sculpture park was begun in 1984 by the late Belgian artist Albert…

3. Beatty Museum

3.75 MILES

What first began in 1995 as the dream of three local women who realized they needed to preserve the history of the town that raised them, has outgrown the…

4. Devil’s Cornfield

22.45 MILES

Just east of Stovepipe Wells Village, Hwy 190 passes through this plain that is not studded with corn but with clumps of arrow weed, an evergreen used by…

5. Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

25.38 MILES

The most accessible dunes in Death Valley are an undulating sea of sand rising up to 100ft high next to the highway near Stovepipe Wells Village. They're…

6. Harmony Borax Works

29.32 MILES

Just north of Furnace Creek, a 0.5-mile interpretive trail follows in the footsteps of late-19th-century Chinese laborers and through the adobe ruins of…

7. Scotty's Castle

29.65 MILES

Closed due to flood damage and not likely to reopen until at least 2020, this whimsical castle was the desert home of Walter E Scott, alias ‘Death Valley…