Two Places Described in The Glass Castle

Two places described in The Glass Castle are Battle Mountain and Welch, which are both towns the Walls family lived in.

               Battle Mountain was a former mining town. The Walls family moved into what was once a railroad depot. It was made of wood and had two floors. The building was painted green and was located right by the railroad tracks. Rex and Rose Mary Walls slept upstairs while Jeanette, Lori, and Brian slept downstairs in an old waiting room. The building still had original stools and benches which the family used as their own furniture. The kids slept in cardboard boxes, which they enjoyed. Rose Mary Walls had her art work all around their home.

               Welch was the city what Rex Walls grew up in. Jeannette describes the town as a place that was once something big, but then had fallen. It was a dirty town that had one of the dirtiest rivers in North America because the town did not have a sewer system. For a while they stayed at their grandparents home, Rex Wall's parents. Their house had a black stove that was used for cooking and to heat the house. It had a terrible stench to it. The kids usually had to stay in the basement which was often really cold.