Mono County Courthouse


The gavel has been dropped since 1880 at this courthouse, an all-white Italianate dreamboat surrounded by a gracious lawn and a wrought-iron fence. On the street behind it, look for the Old County Jail, a spartan facility fashioned with iron latticework doors and stone walls 2ft thick. Inmates overnighted in its six cells from 1883 until 1964.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Mono County Museum

0.12 MILES

In an 1880 schoolhouse, this museum has mining artifacts on display from all the local ghost towns, plus a room of fine Paiute baskets. Only open during…

2. Buckeye Hot Spring

5.39 MILES

A stroll down a hillside brings you to this out-of-the-way (though it can still get crowded) hot spring. Water emerges piping hot and cools as it trickles…

3. Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

10.98 MILES

At 6.3 million acres, this is the largest national forest in the lower 48 states. Most of it is in Nevada, with a small portion around Bridgeport in…

4. Bodie State Historic Park

12.1 MILES

At Bodie State Historic Park, a gold-rush ghost town is preserved in a state of 'arrested decay.' Weathered buildings sit frozen in time on a dusty,…

5. Hoover Wilderness

12.39 MILES

Constituting 128,000 acres of backcountry paradise, Hoover includes the Virginia Lakes, Lundy Lake and high peaks to the west bordering Yosemite National…

6. Black Point Fissures

16.65 MILES

On the north shore of Mono Lake are the Black Point Fissures, narrow crags that opened when a lava mass cooled and contracted about 13,000 years ago…

7. Mono Lake

20.43 MILES

North America’s second-oldest lake is 70 sq miles, and a quiet and mysterious expanse of deep blue water. The glassy surface reflects jagged Sierra peaks,…

8. Upside-Down House

21.34 MILES

The Upside-Down House, a kooky tourist attraction created by silent-film actress Nellie Bly O’Bryan, is worth a quick look. Originally situated along…