Silver City Ghost Town
In 1855 gold was discovered in the Kern Valley. Miners flocked here from throughout the world to get in on what was believed to be California's second great gold rush. Towns sprung up in the area but many were abandoned within a few years when the gold ran out. In the 1970's the Dave Mills family saved historical structures from the deteriorating mining camps and moved them to this site (behind the structures you see here). Around 1973 the Mills closed the ghost town. The J. Paul Corlew family purchased the property in 1988 and began the long task of restoration and preservation work that would dominate their lives for decades. The Corlew's reopened Silver City in 1992. On site are over twenty buildings from mining camps with names like Keyesville, Wiskey Flats, Claraville, and Miracle. Preserve here in a state of "arrested decay". It is now operated as a nationally know museum and film location.
Marker can be reached from Lake Isabella Boulevard (County Route 155) south of Kilbreth Drive, on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
