While living out in Alberta, I had the very fortunate opportunity of getting to explore some hidden gems of the province. One of those gems was the ghost town of Rowley.
Located in Southern Alberta, Rowley was once a bustling prairie town during the 1920s, with over 500 residents. However, after the devastating blow of the Great Depression, most residents abandoned the town. Crops dried up due to lack of rain, and soon the town was desolate and empty of life.
In the 1980s, the last remaining residents of Rowley (all 8 of them! 😱) decided to revive the town! It has since been turned into a historical wonderland! Some of the buildings were transformed to look like a scene straight out of the wild west. Rowley has even been used as a filming location for movies, including Legends Of The Fall and Bye Bye Blues.
The remaining residents also offer tours of the town during the summers. I do not know if they allow tourists into the buildings during those times, but because we visited closer to autumn, we were limited to only taking pictures through the windows 😩 So I do apologize in advance for the quality of some of the photos!
The first building we came across was the Bank 🏦 Unfortunately there wasn't much to say about this one: plain and boring, just like the banks of today! 😅 However, if you look a little closer, you'll be able to see one of the "ghosts" of this little town (HINT look towards the second floor window!).
Next was the Funeral Home! I mean, it's an old West Town; gotta have a funeral home, right?! 😂 The inside of the building didn't seem to portray that image any longer though. Peeking through the window, we could see items from the 1920s, including stoves, kettles, plates, and an old fashioned chandelier! In the middle of the room, there was a glass display case which seemed to feature a model of a house from the time period.
Of course, there was also this lovely little notice out front for trespassers! 😬
The next building appeared to be a restaurant/bar called Sam's!
As we peeped through the windows, we could see that their cashier--another "ghost"--was hard at work 😂 It was really neat to be able to see classic glass jugs, along with some vintage canned foods and a wood burning stove. There was even a typewriter on one of the shelves!
Next was an old gas station and garage. There wasn't too much to this building either, although it did have a cool collection of bottles in the windows!
The next building appeared to be what would have been a settler's house. However, when we peered into the window, it seemed that the town had updated it into a pool table lounge! Looked like a chill place to hang out 😎
Around the side of the house was also a display of an old printing press! It was definitely an interesting sight to behold!
The rest of the town featured buildings that we were able to admire, but were unable to get a good view into the building.. Regardless, they were still wonderful to see! The other buildings included a school, train station, grain silos, and decaying barns that were left untouched.