Drive down any Arizona highway and you’re bound to come across plenty of spooky, abandoned sites. The dusty foundations of ghost towns and once-prominent businesses are now decaying under the hot sun. We’ve highlighted a fair number of these places in the past, and today we’re adding yet another fun-filled location to that list! Let’s check it out. This abandoned attraction in Arizona is sure to intrigue and enamor you.

Route 66, the old highway that ran parallel through Arizona’s northern region, is home to Americana and all the dreams associated with it.
Richard Bauer/Flickr
It reaches back to a nostalgic past, events always appearing a little sweeter than history would suggest. Unfortunately, most of the attractions associated with the highway have been abandoned and deteriorating ever since the highway was officially removed in the 1980s.
Some of these attractions are somehow still standing today, though in varying states of decay. One of those locations is Fort Courage, a tourist attraction sitting in the tiny town Houck on the road to Petrified Forest.
Google Maps
The building wasn’t an actual military fort, despite the guard towers and tall fences. It was actually built as a sort-of replica of a set from the brief 1960s sitcom, F Troop. The show certainly played with those themes of nostalgia from the era of the Civil War and westward expansion with a bit of slapstick humor, comedic hijinks, and historical inaccuracies thrown in for good measure.
Fort Courage was erected in the 1970s on the side of the highway and, while not officially associated with the defunct TV show, it wasn’t shy to flaunt any mild relation to it.
Bill Eichelberger/Flickr

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The attraction stayed in business for years thanks in part to its gift shop where you could purchase general travel-related goods, snacks, arts and crafts, and other merchandise…
Rachel/Flickr
...as well as a pancake restaurant that once served meals to hungry travelers.
Randy/Flickr
However, Fort Courage closed for good in 2014. This is probably for the same reason many other old Route 66 attractions closed their doors and small towns slowly died: the replacement of the Mother Highway with Interstate 40 meant fewer people were stopping to spend their dollars in these little pieces of Americana.
Randy/Flickr

Fort Courage is located just off Old Route 66 on North Frontage Road in Houck. You can find its location via this Google Maps link. Please note: The attraction now sits behind a chain-link fence and has been rapidly decaying in the last few years, so we do not recommend attempting to enter the premises.

If you want to read about another fascinating abandoned place in Arizona that you can actually explore, we suggest checking out the Gold King Mansion near Kingman. Read more about it in 8 Staggering Photos Of An Abandoned Mansion Hiding In Arizona.

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Abandoned Attraction in Arizona

Tori Jane | September 29, 2021

What are some interesting, abandoned places in Arizona? 

Arizona is home to plenty of abandoned and decaying places, some of which are much more historically interesting than others. No matter what part of the state you’re in, you’re bound to find long-neglected homesteads, buildings, farmlands, wild west attractions, and so much more. Some of our favorite interesting abandoned (or even mostly abandoned) places in Arizona include much of the town of Superior, which seems like a place that could be anytown USA in a zombie outbreak movie, and the town of Jerome is made up of mostly abandoned homes and old western buildings, though it’s found new life as a tourist town. When in northern Arizona, make sure to check out Two Guns, just off the I-40 east of Flagstaff. What was once a gas station and truck stop is now desolate, vandalized, and disintegrating back into the desert. Truly, if you know where to look, you know where to find abandoned places in the southwest.  

Where are the most famous ghost towns in Arizona? 

Arizona has some ghost towns that are world-famous! For example, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who’s never heard of Tombstone, which was essentially the heart of the classic cowboy western. Jerome is classified as a ghost town, though people do still live and work there, and the town of Oatman is another example of a “living” ghost town like Jerome is, though should you visit Oatman you ought to be prepared to encounter wild burros who will not be at all deterred by your presence, or that of any other people nearby, really. Perhaps one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the state is Swansea, a beautiful ghost town with plenty of historic buildings that are all safe to explore. Need more? Think about embarking on this epic ghost town road trip!  

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