Montana has a state park that’s literally a gold rush ghost town at 5,800 feet

It’s been empty since the ’70s

Bannack State Park sits in a remote valley in southwestern Montana, about 25 miles west of Dillon.

You can walk right inside most of them and poke around on your own. The state doesn’t restore the buildings.

It keeps them weathered and worn, exactly the way time left them. The whole park covers 1,529 acres at 5,837 feet, ringed by mountains and open sky.

More than 60 original buildings still line the old Main Street. What fills those buildings tells a story that starts with a single gold strike in 1862.

Gold on Grasshopper Creek started it all

On July 28, 1862, a prospector named John White found gold on Grasshopper Creek right where the town stands today.

By 1863, more than 3,000 people had crowded into the valley. A year later, Bannack became the first capital of the new Montana Territory.

That didn’t last long. A bigger gold strike pulled the capital to Virginia City, and the gold here slowly ran dry. People trickled away over the decades.

The last residents left in the 1970s. Montana took over the town in 1954, and Bannack became a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

The red brick Hotel Meade still has its wallpaper

The two-story red brick Hotel Meade stands out the moment you round the corner on Main Street. Workers built it in 1875 as the Beaverhead County Courthouse, the first brick courthouse in Montana.

When the county seat moved to Dillon in 1881, the building sat empty for years. Dr. John Meade turned it into a hotel in 1890, and it became the center of social life in town.

You can climb the staircase, look out from the second-floor windows and spot strips of original wallpaper from the 1800s still clinging to the walls.

Kids carved their names into the school desks

The tall white Masonic Lodge is one of the most photographed buildings in Bannack, and it pulled double duty from the day it opened in 1874.

Downstairs held the town’s school for grades K through 8, which ran for about 70 years. Upstairs belonged to the Masonic Lodge.

Modern Freemasons still hold a meeting there once a year, every September. Look closely at the old wooden desks on the first floor.

Students scratched their names into the wood more than a century ago, and those carvings are still there.

Walk the boardwalk past the saloon and jail

A wooden boardwalk lines parts of Main Street, and the sound under your boots takes you right back to the 1800s.

You’ll pass the Skinner Saloon, the jail, bachelor cabins and several homes. The jail was Montana’s first, and you can peer into its small, cramped cells.

False-front buildings line the street, a common trick in frontier towns to make structures look bigger than they really were.

Grab a self-guided tour pamphlet at the visitor center for a small fee. Numbered markers on the boardwalk match each building’s story.

The cemetery has the best view in town

The Methodist Church went up in 1877, and it’s the only building in Bannack that was built to be a church. Its simple wooden frame and steeple still stand against the mountains behind it.

Walk past the church and up the hill to find the old Bannack Cemetery. From up there, you get one of the best views of the entire town and the valley spreading out below.

Back down near the church, a row of small one-room cabins known as Bachelors Row once housed early miners who came alone to chase gold.

Pan for gold during Bannack Days in July

Every third weekend of July, Bannack Days fills the empty streets with people in period clothing. Reenactors hammer iron at a blacksmith forge, dip candles, and show you how to pan for gold in Grasshopper Creek.

You can try panning yourself. Wagon rides roll down Main Street, live music plays, and people dance in the dirt.

Inside the Hotel Meade, volunteers serve an old-fashioned breakfast. The event draws visitors from across the state, and it’s the biggest weekend of the year at the park.

Lantern bearers guide you through the dark town

Every October, the Bannack Association hosts the Ghost Walk on two nights. The 2026 dates are Oct. 23 and 24, with shows at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Costumed actors stand at stations throughout the dark town, portraying figures from Bannack’s past. Narrators and lantern bearers walk you through the whole thing for about an hour and a half.

Tickets sell out fast, so reserve yours well in advance. One heads-up: some scenes include loud blank gunfire, so the event isn’t a good fit for very young children.

Skate on a frozen gold dredge pond in winter

When winter hits, the old gold dredge pond freezes over and turns into a skating rink.

Skating usually runs from sometime in January through early March, depending on the weather. The park also loans out skates for free.

A warming house opens on weekends from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. during skating season, where you can grab hot drinks and snacks.

If skating isn’t your thing, you can strap on snowshoes or cross-country skis and move through the snow-covered ghost town in total silence.

The Bannack Association sponsors the whole skating program.

Fish the creek where gold was first discovered

Grasshopper Creek runs right through the park, and you can cast a line into the same water where John White found gold more than 160 years ago.

Three hiking trails wind through the park, including the Birds Eye View Loop, which gives you a wide look at the town and the valley below.

Deer, elk, and dozens of bird species live in the surrounding landscape. After dark, the park’s remote location means almost no light pollution, so the night sky here puts on a show of its own.

Camp along the creek and explore at sunrise

Twenty-eight campsites spread across two small campgrounds right along Grasshopper Creek. The sites handle tents, trailers, and RVs. There are no hookups, and cell service barely reaches here.

If you want something different, you can rent a tipi for the night. Every site comes with a table and fire ring, and the park provides drinking water and restrooms.

What you do get is a short walk from your tent to the ghost town, and if you time it right, you can wander the empty streets at sunrise before anyone else shows up.

Rangers lead summer tours through the old mill

From Memorial Day through Labor Day, the visitor center opens daily with exhibits and information. Rangers lead guided tours and run educational programs all summer long.

Special events include guided hikes and tours of the historic Hendricks Mill, part of the old mining operation.

The park stays open year-round, with hours that shift by season. Pets are welcome as long as you keep them on a leash.

Behind the scenes, the Bannack Association works year-round with the state to keep this piece of Montana history standing.

Explore Bannack State Park in Montana

You’ll find Bannack State Park at 721 Bannack Rd., Dillon, Mont., about 25 miles west of town.

From Dillon, take Interstate 15 south to Exit 59, head west on Highway 278 for about 17 miles, then turn south on Bannack Bench Road for four more miles.

The park is open all year. Summer hours run from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and winter hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Check the official website for seasonal updates and event details.

Montana residents who pay the $9 annual state parks fee with their vehicle registration get free day-use entry.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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