Tom Kelly Bottle House
Rhyolite (unincorporated), Nye County, Nevada. Roadside oddity; Every day of the year.
Details
- Where
- 6 Miles From Beatty On State Route 374, Beatty, Rhyolite (unincorporated), NV 89003. Directions
- When
- Every day of the year from sunrise to sunset.
- Getting there
- On Rhyolite Road 1.4 miles north of Nevada Route 374, on the right when traveling north.
- Fees
- Free public access.
- Access
- The ghost town of Rhyolite is on a mixture of federal and private land. It is not within the boundary of Death Valley National Park.
- Walk-in or reserve
- No reservation required; day use only.
- Phone
- 775-482-7800
- Website
- blm.gov
- Managed by
- Nevada Bureau of Land Management.
- Established
- February 1906.
A glass-bottle-and-mortar house built by miner Tom T. Kelly from 50,000 discarded beer and liquor bottles; the surviving structure beside the Cook Bank and the railway depot at Rhyolite. Nevada's best preserved bottle house.
Notable Events
- 1906After winning Kelly's raffle, the Bennett family lived in the house from 1906 to 1914. hmdb.org
- 1906Tom Kelly built the bottle house with more than 50,000 bottles. hmdb.org
- 1907The Bennetts hired shipwright Dave Kinney to build the porch roof and add the false chimney. hmdb.org
- 1924Paramount Pictures used the house in Wanderers in the Wasteland and The Air Mail; a crew removed and rebuilt the rear wall and stabilized the exterior. hmdb.org
- 1926Paramount Pictures used Rhyolite for The Air Mail and restored surviving structures, including the Tom Kelly bottle house. travelnevada.com
- 2022The Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, erected the historical marker. hmdb.org
People
- Dave Kinney, Shipwright hired to build the porch roof and add the false chimney (1907).
- Tom Kelly, Australian-born stonemason turned gold miner who built the bottle house (1906).