Chesaw

Tucked into Okanogan County, Washington, Chesaw carries the name of Chee Saw, a Chinese settler who came to the area in the mid-1890s and married a Native American woman — an unusual and specific origin story for a frontier community. The town's brief moment of prosperity came during a gold rush that ran from 1896 to 1900, after which the boom faded and the settlement slipped into obscurity.

Today Chesaw is a quiet, unincorporated community rather than a true ghost town in the dramatic sense. Its most reliable draw is a longstanding annual rodeo held every Fourth of July, giving visitors a concrete reason to time a trip here. Outside of that event, the setting offers the unhurried character of a small, historic Okanogan County community.