You never know what oddities you’ll come across while exploring one of Nevada’s many ghost towns. In fact, there’s some seriously weird stuff out there! This magnificent glass bottle house is most definitely one of them. Consisting of thousands upon thousands of bottles, this unique structure is a testament to the craftiness of Nevadans in a time of need. Seeing it for yourself is a must, so head on out to Rhyolite and pay it a visit.
Thousands of gold-seekers flocked to the town of Rhyolite as early as 1906 with big dreams of striking big in the surrounding hills. Today, Rhyolite is a ghost town. Most of its buildings are crumbled, but one bizarre structure still stands.
Hiding in Rhyolite is one of the most spectacular glass bottle houses you can find. Nevada is home to quite a few of these strange houses built completely from beverage bottles and mortar, but this is the biggest and most impressive.
It was built in 1905 by a man named Tom Kelly. He used around 51,000 beer bottles encased in adobe mud. It took him a long time to build it, about a year and a half in all, but the result is a wacky structure that has certainly stood the test of time.
The house itself consists of three rooms in an L-shaped building, complete with a porch and everything! The interior walls were plastered to make it feel like a real home. Compared to the dingy houses that the town was primarily made of, this house was more like a mansion.
After all that hard work, Kelly actually opted to raffle off the house for $5 a ticket. The winners were the Bennet family, who lived in the house for eight years. Most residents had left Rhyolite by 1920, and the house remained empty for decades. That is, until a caretaker took over the house from 1936 to 1954.
After the caretaker, Lewis Murphey, departed, a new family moved in. The Thompson Family consisted of eight children, and they lived in the house from 1954 to 1969. During their residence, they built miniature buildings around the house's lawn. They were the last inhabitants of this weird little structure.
It's amazing to think that one of the few buildings remaining in Rhyolite is the glass bottle house built over a century ago by Tom Kelly! The next time you're in the area, be sure to check it out and imagine what it would be like to live inside of this humble abode.
Have you seen this bizarre glass bottle house? Just when you thought you’d seen it all…Share your thoughts on this wacky wonder with us in the comments below!
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