Bedford, Indiana: Ed's Ghost Town (Gone)

I fondly remember Ed's Ghost Town from when I was little. I think there were life-size horses in the livery (paper mache?) hooked up to a couple of buggies. The buildings were fascinating, the livery with all the buggies; the Fentonware glass was gorgeous. I'm surprised it's listed as being in Bedford as it wasn't. To me, I'd have thought it was Mitchell. I think the Monkey Grove that Arthur mentioned was Jim's Monkey Island, but I'm not positive. My Dad used to say that's where they got me! It was an easy drive from Shoals, so we went fairly often.

My parents started and ran Ed's Ghost Town near Bedford. Some folks might enjoy photos of postcards my parents sold in the store (Also, the post that mentioning seeing a bear was talking about Monkey Grove near Mitchell, on the other side of the county, which my parents later purchased and ran. Dad didn't have any animals there.).

My parents retired and moved to Tucson in 1983. My mother is 94 and currently living in Oklahoma.

I would give anything to visit Ed's as it was in the early 1970s -- the way I remember it as a young child with my mom and dad -- just one more time. We lived just outside Cincinnati, and my grandparents lived in Petersburg, Indiana, so we made the trip down Route 50 several times a year.

I loved visiting Ed's gift shop: the candy, the toys and souvenirs, the geodes and polished rocks, the postcards. It was an awesome place if you were young. It was a must-top destination either on the trip there or back for us.

I vividly recall the stark, simple, white and black signs that lined Route 50, both east and west of Ed's. If I recall, the farthest sign was "88 miles to Ed's," which was east of the store and ghost town. As a typical kid who always wondered, "Are we there yet," spotting the signs that counted down the miles made the nearly 4-hour trip more palatable.

My wife and I drove to visit my dad's relatives in Petersburg this past weekend and I told my two young girls about Ed's. I would have loved for them to visit it for the unique experience of a simpler time.

Mike, it's good to see your post here. I'm sorry to hear about your father. He and your mother were always great to us when we stopped.

I was having a few childhood memories and Googled Ed's Ghost Town just to see if anyone else had something to say about it - what a joy to find out it hadn't been forgotten! As children, my brother and I spent several summers on my grandparent's farm in Mitchell, IN (~1964). The Ghost Town was one of our favorite "haunts" along with Santa Claus Land, Spring Mill State Park, Ashcraft Chapel (my g-grandmother was an Ashcraft) and spending time with family all over that part of the world.

I loved the grab bags at Ed's - that was about all I could afford - but we always bought some treasure to take back to my mother in Texas. I'm sure there must be photos somewhere but we've not had the opportunity to go through all my mother's belongings. What great memories.

Ed's Ghost Town was a big part of my life growing up in Owensburg, IN. I made several trips to Ed's. Money was tight, but my mom always made sure we got to go to Springmill Park and Ed's Ghost Town. We'd go in the back and look at the old buildings -- an old jail, a stable, -- some had mannequins such as store clerks, sheriff, etc. We always got to get a little treat in the gift shop. I remember the husband and wife that ran it would sometimes give us an extra sucker or some other treat.

Mom was divorced raising 6 children on her own, so when we were little these things like going to Ed's were very important to us.