A ghost town for sale in Utah may be a bit of a fixer-upper, but the property does come with a herd of free range llamas and a lot of elbow room. If you ever dreamed of being the king (or queen) of not just your castle but the ruler of an entire municipality, now is your chance with the sale of the Woodside, Utah ghost town.
The ghost town’s charter needs renewed to make the Utah area an official corporation again, but the process is entirely feasible, according to statements by the real estate broker tasked with selling the ghost town republished by The Blaze.
“It’ll take a little bit of fixing up, as you look around. It hasn’t been in service for a few years, but it‘s a classic piece of Americana that isn’t available anywhere else that I’m aware of. You would need to reinstate the charter, to make it an official town, but that’s all that is required,” Bridge Realty broker Mike Metzger told the Deseret News.
The Utah ghost town was abandoned decades ago, but was once a thriving small town during the railroad years of the 1920s. Woodside, originally known as Lower Crossing, boasted a blacksmith shop, a school and a handful of stores when it was built in 1881, the Deseret News reports. The Emery County, Utah ghost town comprises about 700 acres of land and includes water rights and partial mineral rights.
When the railroad no longer needed Woodside the small Utah town appeared doomed to extinction, but clever marketing of a roadside geyser in the 1930s attracted enough tourists to keep the town alive. Woodside town leaders built a wall around the geyser, which shot a water stream 75 feet in the air every hour and charged an admission fee to watch the natural wonder. Unfortunately, the geyser played itself out not long after the highly touted attraction garnered wide-range popularity.
“What a bundle of possibilities. 706.70 Acres. Surface rights. Some Mineral rights. Oil and gas rights. Lots of Water rights. Agriculatural. Commercial. Views. The wild west. Geyser. Service station. Great working ranch possibilities. Awesome access of HWY 6. Close to the railroad. Set up to accommodate approximately 300 cows. Former movie set with lots of historical sites nearby. Near possible power plant location. The Charter for the old town of Woodside could possibly be reissued: Your chance to be the mayor the sheriff the judge and the executioner!!! High traffic count 120 000 + per month.” – Ghost Town listing details posted on Bridge Realty website.
By the 1970s there were no longer any full time residents in Woodside, officially making the rural Utah area a ghost town. The ghost town is listed with a $3.9 million price tag. The Woodside ghost town is located along Route 6 in Emery County, Utah alongside Price River. The Woodside service station, several “vintage” buildings, the geyser and of course the free range llamas are included in the ghost town real estate listing.
