Situated on Station Island at the southeastern edge of the San Francisco Bay, Drawbridge (formerly Saline City) was founded in 1876 when a single cabin was built for the drawbridge’s operator. In its heyday, in the 1920s, Drawbridge had 90 private homes, but no streets. It even had its own aquifer and one telephone line. Today, it’s nothing but a ghost town with an abandoned railroad station and quite the intriguing history. Located on the Union Pacific Railroad, six miles south of downtown Fremont, Drawbridge has been an abandoned town since 1979 and is slowly sinking into the marshlands.
Jack/Flickr You won’t find a soul in Drawbridge. You’ll only hear the rustling wetland vegetation and the sounds of hundreds of species of waterfowl filling the empty air.
Shawn Clover/Flickr The last resident is said to have left in 1979, but some structures remain. Many homes were vandalized when the San Jose Mercury News incorrectly reported that the residents of the ghost town had left their valuables behind.
Nick Fisher/Flickr Drawbridge is accessible by bike and foot. Half the trip you can ride your bike, the other half you have to walk along the train tracks! But beware: this area is off limits, partly because you risk falling into waist-deep marsh.
Photo by Vitaly L.K.?Flickr Drawbridge is monitored by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and people have received tickets for trespassing. Please respect the law!
Shawn Clover/Flickr The closest legal way to see Drawbridge, other than from a train, is the Mallard Slough Trail from the Alviso end of Don Edwards Preserve.
Sam R/Yelp The boom times sank along with the island itself, which began subsiding in the 1930s. The raw sewage from San Jose began created an exodus despite some hanger-ons.
The Rabbit/Flickr A San Francisco Chronicle article from 2012 approximated that around 25 buildings remain, and officials have no plans to demolish them.
Photo by Vitaly L.K./Flickr Today, Drawbridge is slowly sinking into the marshlands it was built on. It’s been absorbed into the Baylands Nature Preserve and purposely left to decay back into the marsh.
Curious to see more of this abandoned town near San Francisco? Check out this very cool drone footage of the abandoned town of Drawbridge.
Jack/Flickr
You won’t find a soul in Drawbridge. You’ll only hear the rustling wetland vegetation and the sounds of hundreds of species of waterfowl filling the empty air.
Shawn Clover/Flickr
The last resident is said to have left in 1979, but some structures remain. Many homes were vandalized when the San Jose Mercury News incorrectly reported that the residents of the ghost town had left their valuables behind.
Nick Fisher/Flickr
Drawbridge is accessible by bike and foot. Half the trip you can ride your bike, the other half you have to walk along the train tracks! But beware: this area is off limits, partly because you risk falling into waist-deep marsh.
Photo by Vitaly L.K.?Flickr
Drawbridge is monitored by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and people have received tickets for trespassing. Please respect the law!
The closest legal way to see Drawbridge, other than from a train, is the Mallard Slough Trail from the Alviso end of Don Edwards Preserve.
Sam R/Yelp
The boom times sank along with the island itself, which began subsiding in the 1930s. The raw sewage from San Jose began created an exodus despite some hanger-ons.
The Rabbit/Flickr
A San Francisco Chronicle article from 2012 approximated that around 25 buildings remain, and officials have no plans to demolish them.
Photo by Vitaly L.K./Flickr
Today, Drawbridge is slowly sinking into the marshlands it was built on. It’s been absorbed into the Baylands Nature Preserve and purposely left to decay back into the marsh.
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