Explore the history of Bay Area ghost towns

See photos of some of Sonoma County's historic ghost towns, along with others throughout the Bay Area.|

Dilapidated structures, rust, peeling paint and no one as far as the eye can see - ghost towns have a certain romantic appeal that can't be denied.

In Sonoma County Wingo and Mercuryville, fit the bill.

Wingo was an old hunting and fishing village built in the tidal marshlands south of Sonoma. A few crumbling cottages are all that remain of the popular railway destination along Sonoma Creek. The throng of visitors in the 1920s and 30s began to dissipate after 1937 when the Golden Gate Bridge opened and ferry and passenger train ridership began to drop off. Records show that the town had but one resident in 1994, an elderly widow named Alice Mann who bought a cabin with her husband in 1956 for $1,000. These days, a few town neighbors can see the decaying town from their yards. However, don't expect a warm welcome- these faithful residents are not fond of visitors.

Mercuryville sprang up in the late 1800s on the heels of the gold rush. Prospectors needed mercury, also known as quicksilver, to recover the precious metal. A rich source was discovered near San Jose in New Almaden, a Bay Area ghost town named after a famous quicksilver mine in Spain. Around 1874, a settlement of miners resided on a ridge near Geyser Peak in northeast Sonoma County. Today, one of the last clues to Mercuryville is the rusty sign on Geysers Road, proclaiming “Mercuryville City Limit; Pop 2; El 2600 ft.; 1/2 mile high city.”

Explore some of the history and haunting beauty of these Sonoma County ghost towns, along with others throughout the Bay Area, in the gallery above.

* Journalist John Beck and Historian Arthur Dawson contributed to this report

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