Morning at the Rhyolite School. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light slants through the windows and across the floor of the old schoolhouse in the ghost town of Rhyolite Nevada.

Although it is not the most iconic structure at the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada (very close to Death Valley National Park), I’m intrigued by the ruins of the old Rhyolite School. It is one of the more intact structures – while the roof is gone, many of the walls are still standing, as is the main floor seen in the photo. I like to photograph both the exterior and interior of this structure. There is something compelling about the school with its missing roof and windows leaving the interior open to the sky, and this building makes me think about the lives of the people who lived here more than other buildings like the bank and railroad station.

I made this photograph in the early morning after photographing dawn light on the bank building and the distance Amargosa Valley and Mountains and, beyond that, Telescope Peak in Death Valley’s Panamint Range. The sun was still fairly low, providing the slanting light though the windows. If you look closely at the far windows you can make out some of the other buildings of Rhyolite.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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