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The Tom Kelly Bottle House in Rhyolite, Nevada lends new meaning to the annoying old "drinking song," the one you sang non-stop for hours as a child on long car trips with your family. In Tom's case, there were quite a few more than 99 bottles, and these were in the wall (as opposed to on it).
On a recent visit to Rhyolite, my husband John and I were regaled with stories of this ghost town's Boom Town days by a kindly Bureau of Land Management guy who was as weathered as the buildings and the landscape itself. He informed us that when Tom Kelly was finished building his bottle house, he raffled it for $5.00 a ticket--earning over $2000--much more than he could have sold the place for. Being a good (recovering) alcoholic, I asked our tour guide whether Mr. Kelly drank all the (mostly beer) bottles himself. We all got a good chuckle, and I felt pretty clever until another tourist approached and asked the same thing. (Our crusty veteran of a guide must have heard that zinger more than a time or two.)
Truth be told, I wasn't really kidding. The house reminded me of my own wild and woolly past, and the bags and bags of bottles and cans that piled up in my room--too ashamed was I to be seen by the neighbors carrying it all to the dumpster each day. It seemed that Tom had the perfect solution. He could use as his rationalization for all that drinking, that he was just gathering materials to put a roof over his head. His usage of bottles, not only eco-friendly in the wood-scarce desert, was a perfect example of recycling for all the other rough & ready gold miner types. On top of that, he raffled off the place upon completion, a sound business decision considering this Boom Town's bust was just around the corner. Besides, $5.00 a pop will buy a lot more booze for a guy who probably spent his last dime on "building supplies" while spending his time building a "glass house" as opposed to getting a real job.
And as any low-bottom drunk knows, who needs a house if you don't have a bottle inside it?
Three Cheers for Tom Kelly!!
On a recent visit to Rhyolite, my husband John and I were regaled with stories of this ghost town's Boom Town days by a kindly Bureau of Land Management guy who was as weathered as the buildings and the landscape itself. He informed us that when Tom Kelly was finished building his bottle house, he raffled it for $5.00 a ticket--earning over $2000--much more than he could have sold the place for. Being a good (recovering) alcoholic, I asked our tour guide whether Mr. Kelly drank all the (mostly beer) bottles himself. We all got a good chuckle, and I felt pretty clever until another tourist approached and asked the same thing. (Our crusty veteran of a guide must have heard that zinger more than a time or two.)
Truth be told, I wasn't really kidding. The house reminded me of my own wild and woolly past, and the bags and bags of bottles and cans that piled up in my room--too ashamed was I to be seen by the neighbors carrying it all to the dumpster each day. It seemed that Tom had the perfect solution. He could use as his rationalization for all that drinking, that he was just gathering materials to put a roof over his head. His usage of bottles, not only eco-friendly in the wood-scarce desert, was a perfect example of recycling for all the other rough & ready gold miner types. On top of that, he raffled off the place upon completion, a sound business decision considering this Boom Town's bust was just around the corner. Besides, $5.00 a pop will buy a lot more booze for a guy who probably spent his last dime on "building supplies" while spending his time building a "glass house" as opposed to getting a real job.
And as any low-bottom drunk knows, who needs a house if you don't have a bottle inside it?
Three Cheers for Tom Kelly!!
4 comments:
What a beautiful house. How old is the house?
Your blog blows me away. You are so insightful. I am able to view the slide show today.
Hey Su, that house is around 1900-ish, you can find info on line about it. I loved it. I hope there was something vaguely funny in there for you, not too morbid I mean! I'm getting ready to check your blog...now I'm obsessed with blogging. I've got about 3 more dire & dreary subjects to write about. Thanks for being my only faithful reader!
I kind of like the morbid subjects, and I did also get the funny part. I thought your blogging would inspire me to start writing again, but instead I just realize that I don't have anything to say.
My life of late has just been trying to get social lives for myself and the kiddos. The girls have a friend spending the night tonight.
My bunco group caved before it ever even started. The organizer gave up trying to get people together. Damn. Now I'm going to have to learn how to knit, so I can get in a knitting group. I'm determined to make some friends.
How fun they have somebody spending the night! If you start knitting you can make Louie a sweater. Frankly I think it's the dreary weather getting to everyone. Just read, eat & wait for spring. That's my motto. Although I think we're gonna try to take a hike tomorrow to see if we can get some energy. All lethargic a& arthritic around here.
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