Glen Davis is an old shale-mining ghost town on the Capertee river, 35km’s east of Capertee at the eastern rim of the Capertee Valley.

The first mining tunnel, established in 1881, later became the basis of the major mining enterprise which opened in 1938. A town of some 2500 people developed around the mine, which was named Glen Davis after the Davis Gelatine interests who headed the mining consortium.

The operation closed down in 1952 due to high costs and the increasingly small output, leaving what remains today- crumbling furnace ruins, retorts and collapsed shafts covered in vegetation and surrounded by steep sandstone cliffs and a profuse array of birdlife.

Glen Davis has a picnic-barbecue-camping area with an amenities block and privately run museum with displays relating to the town and shale mining history. It is usually only open on weekends and entry is free.

There is a bushwalking trail (22km return) to Newnes up the Green Gully, in the Wollemi National Park, following the old pipeline track. There are lyrebirds, cycads, banksia serrata and assorted eucalyptus. Information on this walk is available from the museum.