A lot of people in Vegas refer to the whole area as Nelsons Landing, but Nelsons Landing is actually the cliff jumping area not too far from Nelson Ghost Town.
Nelson Ghost Town, on the other hand, is a mix between a junkyard, outdoor art display, and burning man tribute. It’s easy to see why it’s popular among photographers and videographers because it looks like a movie set, except it’s the real deal (minus the planes). In both our visits, we saw several photoshoots.
Located just five miles away from the Colorado River, Nelson was known as El Dorado by the Spaniards who discovered it. It is home to the Techatticup Mine (or El Dorado Canyon Mine). It was once home to one of the largest booms in Nevada, which also resulted in bloody labor disputes and ownership disagreements.
But because of its location in the El Dorado Canyon, it was susceptible to flash flooding making it uninhabitable. The remaining weathered buildings, machinery, and Texaco station are what’s left of the boomtown.
There are also some really popular crashed planes on-site, but those aren’t historical but rather movie props from 3000 Miles to Graceland.
