ghost town
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
in the
Bradshaw Mountains
The Bradshaw Mountains are a mountain range in central Arizona, United States, named for brothers Isaac and William D. Bradshaw after their deaths, having been formerly known in English as the Silver Mountain Range.
History
The first known set ...
of
Yavapai County
Yavapai County ( ) is a county near the center of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 236,209, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arizona. The county seat is Prescott.
Yavapai County comprises the Pr ...
,
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, United States, named for nearby Bumble Bee Creek. The townsite area is commonly used by RV campers in winter.
History
Established in 1863, Bumble Bee served as a
stagecoach
A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
stop and an outpost for the U.S. Cavalry, with a post office established in 1879. The creek, and by extension the town, were so named because early travelers in the area claimed that the
indigenous people
There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
there were as "thick as bumblebees".
Bumble Bee's population was 25 in 1920, and 20 in 1940.
Ghost town status
With the demise of the stagecoach and the mining in the surrounding area, the site eventually faded away. An attempt by Jeff Martin to make the town a tourist attraction during the mid-1930s resulted in the construction of the current buildings. In 1960, Charles A. Penn, retired publisher of ''
Railroad Model Craftsman
''Railroad Model Craftsman'' is an American magazine specializing in the hobby of model railroading. The magazine is published monthly by White River Productions, which acquired the title from Carstens Publications in 2014. Its first issue in M ...
'' magazine, purchased the site and tried once again to establish a tourist attraction and museum. Penn died before his plans came to fruition and the property reverted to private ownership. Many of the faux historic buildings have since been torn down and smaller homes have been built in their place.
Bumble Bee is located 55 miles north of Phoenix, just off
I-17 I17 may also refer to:
* Interstate 17, an Interstate Highway located entirely within the state of Arizona, United States
* Japanese submarine ''I-17'', a B1 type submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy
* Polikarpov I-17, a Soviet single-seat figh ...