Are you brave enough to visit a ghost town? Take a day trip to the J. Lorraine Ghost Town just east of Austin in Manor, TX. The Ghost Town is open on Saturdays and Sundays (as well as Fridays during October), for self-guided tours of the unique property with live music playing in the afternoons while their restaurant serves up lunch and dinner.
If you’re looking for an extra terrifying time, the Ghost Town is home to the annual Halloween fundraising event, Scare for a Cure, which features interactive haunted adventures that raise money for Breast Cancer Resource Center and other local charities. Scare for a Cure notes on their website: “This isn’t your granddad’s haunt. Be prepared to duck, crawl, climb, dodge, and get covered in gore and slime!” So we’re thinking this is not for the faint of heart.
Do512 Family Explores the J. Lorraine Ghost Town
We’re not sure what our kids expected exactly when we told them we were going to visit a Ghost Town, but they were super excited to check it out. Just a short drive from Austin, J. Lorraine Ghost Town is a re-created version of a destroyed 1800s western town that once stood just a few miles away from this site in Manor. Rebuilt with scrap wood from the original town, it now serves as an occasional movie set, a wedding rental venue, a bar and restaurant, and a place to simply explore during open public hours.
While we can’t promise that you’ll run into any ghosts on your visit, this quiet, empty little town has an eerie quality that’s great fodder for any child’s imagination.
The Ghost Town offers 4.5 acres of wide open space featuring plenty of abandoned buildings that you can walk into and look around. The kids liked locking each other up in the jail, playing out-of-tune songs on the piano in the saloon, pretending to have incurable ailments in the doctor’s office, getting a haircut at the barbershop, etc. Be sure to note that kids must remain with adults at all times while playing around the town.
The restaurant is very casual and affordable with “the best hamburgers in town”, as well as a variety of sandwiches, chips, ice cream bars, etc. They also serve beer and wine and could be a really fun place to meet up with friends on a weekend afternoon. Take note that no outdoor food or drink is allowed.
Horseshoes, washers, darts, volleyball, and tetherball are all available for you to play here, too. They also sometimes feature live music. To best keep up with the schedule of events, you can visit the Ghost Town website or Facebook page.
On our visit on a Saturday afternoon, there were a few families eating lunch in the restaurant, but otherwise, we had the Ghost Town all to ourselves. To be perfectly honest, I think our visit was successful due to the kid’s imagination. They came up with a ghost-busting game and weaved in and out of buildings on a mission to track down any suspicious activity. They loved entering all the buildings and pretending to “find spooky things”. The Ghost Town felt like one big playground for the kids thanks to their creative minds. But I wouldn’t go to the Ghost Town expecting to be entertained. There are no costume characters, tours, or spooky creatures that pop out at you. It’s a very unique setting in which you can plan to bring your fun.
Hours for J. Lorraine Ghost Town vary by season, but it’s generally open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons (currently closed on weekdays). Admission is free. No pets or outdoor food & drink are allowed. Please visit www.ghosttownaustin.com for the latest hours and info before you go.
