Authors: Joan Lowery Nixon
Ghost Town (13 page)
In 1880 the buffalo hunts ended. In 1881 the military fort was abandoned, and the newly constructed railroad bypassed Fort Griffin to go through Albany. As a result The Flat was soon deserted.
Although there is nothing left of The Flat but the abandoned stone Fort Griffin school, the fort itself has been proclaimed a Texas State Historical Park. Some of the ruins have been restored or partly
restored and are open to visitors. Occasionally historical reenactments are held.
To reach Fort Griffin
, travel fifteen miles north of Albany, Texas, on U.S. Highway 283.
To learn more about Fort Griffin
, contact Texas Parks & Wildlife, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744, or Fort Griffin State Historical Park, 1701 North U.S. Highway 283, Albany, TX 76430. Telephone: (915) 762-3592.
Web site: Fort Griffin State Historical Park:
www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/fortgrif/fortgrif.htm
Publications:
Ghost Towns of Texas
, by T. Lindsay Baker, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1986, pages 44–48.
A Texas Frontier: The Clear Fork Country and Fort Griffin, 1849–1887
, by Ty Cashion, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1997.
While some ghost towns have been preserved and some have even become places of entertainment, there are many more lonely, deserted, out-of-the way places to discover.
Although the West, with its played-out silver and gold mines, is famous for its ghost towns, these clusters of decaying buildings where people no longer live and work can sometimes be found in other parts of the United States.
If you are interested in finding out about a ghost town in the state in which you live, it's not hard to do.
You might start by asking your librarian for help. Perhaps someone has written a book or a magazine article about a nearby ghost town, and your librarian can help you find it.
The librarian can also help you locate the addresses of your state's chamber of commerce and tourist bureau—even a local historical preservation society, if there is one. If you write to the directors of these organizations and ask them for ghost town information, you should get some interesting material.
When you find a town to explore, find out who
owns the property. If the town is on private land, you'll need to request permission to visit.
Before you visit, read as much as you can about the history of the town so you'll know why people once lived there and why they left.
Never go to the town alone; ask adults to take you there. Your safety is important, and you do not want to be alone in case you come across dangerous spots you haven't expected. In abandoned towns old wooden sidewalks and flooring can break under your feet, and if you leave the roads, you'll need to watch out for open water wells or mine shafts.
A slogan used by ghost town explorers—and there are many such investigators—is “Don't touch. Don't take.” While you're exploring, remember you are visiting a part of history, which others may enjoy visiting, too. Souvenir-hunters can quickly destroy what little is left of a ghost town.
When you go exploring, take a camera. You can create a pictorial journal. Include as much information as you can find and describe your own experience in the ghost town. Donate the journal to your library for others to research, or to just read and enjoy.
Perhaps while you're visiting your ghost town,
you'll meet someone who seems a little otherworldly … or feel a puff of air against your cheek when there is no wind…or glimpse a quick movement, though no one is there…or hear what seems to be a whisper…
Ghosts? Maybe. But you'll know what to do. Won't you?
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR
J
OAN
L
OWERY
N
IXON
has been called the grande dame of young adult mysteries and is the author of more than a hundred books for young readers, including
Nobody's There; Who Are You?; The Haunting; Murdered, My Sweet; Don't Scream; Spirit Seeker; Shadowmaker; Secret, Silent Screams; A Candidate for Murder; Whispers from the Dead;
and the middle-grade novel
Search for the Shadowman
. Joan Lowery Nixon was the 1997 president of the Mystery Writers of America and is the only four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Best Juvenile Mystery Award. She received the award for
The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, The Séance, The Name of the Game Was Murder
, and
The Other Side of Dark
, which was also a winner of the California Young Reader Medal. Her historical fiction includes the award-winning series The Orphan Train Adventures.
Joan Lowery Nixon lives in Houston with her husband.
Published by
Delacorte Press
an imprint of
Random House Children's Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
1540 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
Copyright © 2000 by Joan Lowery Nixon
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Nixon, Joan Lowery.
Ghost town: Seven ghostly stories/by Joan Lowery Nixon.
p. cm.
Summary: A collection of stories about eerie encounters in various ghost towns across the United States. Each story is accompanied by an afterword about the actual town on which the story is based.
eISBN: 978-0-307-52794-3
1. Ghost towns Juvenile fiction. 2. Children's stories, American. [1. Ghost towns Fiction. 2. Ghosts Fiction. 3. Short stories.]
I. Title.
PZ7. N65Ge 2000 99-36340
[Fic]—dc21 CIP
The text of this book is set in 13.5-point Adobe Garamond.
September 2000
v3.0