Categories: Travel

Explore one of Alberta’s historic ghost towns this Halloween season

Image via Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock

Just north of Drumheller sits Rowley, a place known for being one of Alberta’s spookiest ghost towns.

This Halloween season, you can take a drive to the Town of Rowley. Although tours are done for the season, you can still explore and uncover the history the town has to offer on your own. It is considered a ghost town, but it currently holds a population of around eight people, according to a 2013 municipal census.

A once-thriving community, now historically preserved

Rowley was founded in 1910. Since then, the town has remained small but vibrant, with a peak of over 500 residents in the 1900s.

The town consists of many historic properties from the 1900s, like the Prairie School Museum, the train station, Sam’s Saloon, Rowley Trading Post, and more. There are grain elevators, which are currently undergoing a restoration project, having first been erected in 1915.

The Rowley Trading Post is one of the oldest buildings, having been built in 1920 and operating until 1973. As for the train station, it was established in 1911, and it extended to Calgary in 1913. By 1997, the last train had run, the track decommissioned, and now made into an R.C.H.A. site.

In more recent years, Rowley has been a hotspot for entertainment. A few movies have been shot in the vicinity, including Bye Bye Blues and The Magic of Ordinary Days. The town has been nicknamed Rowleywood since it’s so popular in movies. Some of the buildings were even constructed specifically for films, such as the bank featured in Bye Bye Blues.

In the summer, it’s not as ghostly and spooky as it is during the night. The town actually hosts Summer Pizza Nights, held on the last Saturday of each summer month, to kick off the season.

You can even camp here, as camping is by donation year-round. Whatever you wish to discover in Rowley, you’ll definitely find it in this ghost town.