The Shell Station, the Firehouse, and the Standard Mill & Mine

Spotting a gas station in Bodie may cause you to question its gold-rush-era bona fides, but rest assured that most of the buildings here are from the 19th century. Bodie's heyday was long over by the dawn of the 20th century - it peaked at a population of about 10,000 from 1877-81 - but occasional bursts of mining activity occurred here until World War II.

Across the road from the gas station is the bell-topped fire station, one of about a dozen buildings along Main Street to survive the 1932 fire that wiped out much of Bodie. Beyond it is the Standard Mill & Mine, without which there would be no Bodie. The original mineworks burned down in 1898; the version visible here was built around the turn of the 20th century.