# Ghost Towns In Eastern USA-Are There any? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890 "2003-05-08T13:29:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/21 "2003-05-09T17:47:30Z")
Of course, Innsmouth, the fishing port near Miskatonic University, will always be the classic New England ghost town. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/22 "2003-05-09T18:03:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bryanmcc \* > \*\*Well, there’s always Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine. \*\* I’d avoid that area. I’ve heard there are some really bad biting insects around there. ---
**Author:** ![bryanmcc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@bryanmcc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmcc)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/23 "2003-05-09T18:30:39Z")
Well, the mosquito _is_ the Maine state bird. And you should see the size of some of 'em out that way. ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/24 "2003-05-09T18:48:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bryanmcc \* > \*\*Well, there’s always Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine. \*\* [Blair MD](http://www.blairwitch.com/). ---
**Author:** ![BewareTheLlama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@BewareTheLlama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BewareTheLlama)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/25 "2003-05-09T19:10:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by An Arky \* > \*\*Centralia, PA is pretty much a ghost town due to the mine fire that’s been burning for 40-something years… \*\* I have to go through there on my way to my Great Grandma’s house. It really creeps me out. Roads suddenly end for no reason, there are half-standing houses, etc… Sometimes you can even see smoke coming out of the ground. ---
**Author:** ![BewareTheLlama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@BewareTheLlama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BewareTheLlama)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/26 "2003-05-09T19:13:05Z")
I live in Allentown, PA, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/27 "2003-05-09T19:16:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evil Captor \* > \*\*Of course, Innsmouth, the fishing port near Miskatonic University, will always be the classic New England ghost town. \*\* Is that near Cabot Cove, Maine? You know, that little town where every single resident was murdered, one by one, except for the old lady mystery writer? This next example is just a neighborhood, not a town, but I’ll add the area around the rental car lot at Cleveland Hopkins Airport. To get there, the bus goes down an old-looking street with regularly-spaced curb cuts, short driveways leading nowhere, and the occasional empty house. ---
**Author:** ![Nuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea666f/32.png) [@Nuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nuke)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/28 "2003-05-09T19:55:58Z")
Swan Island, Maine - real close to where I used to work. [http://www.state.me.us/ifw/education/swanisl.htm](http://www.state.me.us/ifw/education/swanisl.htm) ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/29 "2003-05-09T21:00:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ralph124c \* > \*\*I’m fascinated by ghost towns…most are in the Far western USA, as they were mostly mining towns which disappeared when the ore deposits gave out. > My question: are there any ghost towns in the eastern USA? I am aware of some towns that have been abandoned …one in Massachusets is BERNARDSTOWN, in western ma. it was abandoned in the 1920’s, as a local mine (emery I believe) closed down. I’ve been there-nothing remains except foundation holes and the local dump. > Anybody know of eastern ghost towns? I’d love to see a place like some of the ones out west (like Bodoe, NV-they even have coffins in the undertaker’s shop). > By they way, who wons a ghost town-when property is abandoned, can you just move in and take posession?:rolleyes: \*\* Bernardston is a ghost town? I went to Northfield Mount Hermon which is a stones throw from there. Tiny small podunk town yes, ghost town? No. That was about 10 years and 100,000 beers ago though. ---
**Author:** ![Alto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Alto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alto)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/30 "2003-05-09T21:14:48Z")
The wonderfully named Doodletown is an abandonded 18th century village located inside the Bear Mountain State Park a daytrip from New York City. There’s mostly bits of foundation and cemeteries that have been reclaimed by forest. I think I heard once that there’s an unused church in it that has a sunrise service once a year for hikers, but I don’t know anything more, and I may have made that part up. ---
**Author:** ![Flying\_Monk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@Flying\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flying_Monk)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/31 "2003-05-09T22:06:56Z")
There’s Momson, VT, where the entire population mysteriously disappeared… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/32 "2003-05-09T23:15:30Z")
Not really the East, but I’d wager it’s the closest ghost town to a major metropolis - [Times Beach.](http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/mo/timesbeach.html). Quite the local joke amongst St. Louis residents while I was growing up. As if getting routinely flooded by the Meramec River wasn’t enough, they discovered in the late 70’s that the entire town was contaminated by the oil that had seeped into the ground from blacktopping the gravel roads. The gov’t bought it in 1982 and shut it down. ---
**Author:** ![KinSaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@KinSaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinSaba)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/33 "2003-05-10T00:23:33Z")
Jamestown, Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/34 "2003-05-10T00:55:21Z")
Who could forget [Love Canal](http://www.globalserve.net/~spinc/atomcc/nayborhd.htm), a ghost neighborhood if not a ghost town? ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/35 "2003-05-10T01:22:36Z")
The history of British settlement in North America started with a ghost town: the Roanoke colony, Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/36 "2003-05-10T03:56:54Z")
Up in the woods about seven miles outside Emporium, PA is the remains of an old logging community called Bradytown. There’s nothing left now but collapsed cellarholes, and you wouldn’t even know the place was there unless you happened to wander through and noticed that the forest floor in that area is strewn with moss-covered bricks, bottles and bits of china. I’ve heard that the local historical society sponsored a dig up there some years back. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/37 "2003-05-10T04:36:40Z")
Yeah, the forests around here usually cover up a lot. I live across the street from Van Cortlandt Park in da Bronx near a Revolutionary War battlefield (well, [skirmish-field](http://www.americanrevolution.org/ind2.html) ), and there’s the remains of an Old Jerome Avenue and some of the walls that marked the Devoe’s fields. Here’s the [monument](http://www.nimham.com/daniel.htm) from 1908, put up by the DAR, that I used to play on as a kid. Anyway, the definitions might vary. The Devoes and the farmers have been gone since the 1920s, but the neighborhood is still thickly settled. My great-aunts live in Nova Scotia on a country road that used to be filled with neighbors and now is mostly forest. Is Glencoe Mills a ghost town? Well, not really, but it’s lost 90% of its population in the last 30 years. But I agree that between houses being knocked down and salvaged for their materials, the work of tree roots and water and snowstorms, the fact that land is often bought and sold several times before folks decide to abandon the site for good, it’s harder to have entire ghost towns here. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/38 "2003-05-10T04:40:14Z")
Let’s not forget Misery Island, the resort island off the coast of Beverly and Salem, MA which was a summer playground for the rich until it burned down in 1926. [http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/323\_misery\_islands.cfm](http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/323_misery_islands.cfm) I don’t know if it counts as a true ghost town, but it’s certainly a once thriving area that is now ruins. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/39 "2003-05-10T11:15:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wumpus \* > \*\*The history of British settlement in North America started with a ghost town: the Roanoke colony, Virginia. \*\* That’s Roanoke Colony, **North Carolina**. Although the entire area then was called “Virginia”, Roanoke Island of Lost Colony fame is in North Carolina. [http://www.nps.gov/fora/search.htm](http://www.nps.gov/fora/search.htm) [http://www.coastalguide.com/packet/lostcolony01.htm](http://www.coastalguide.com/packet/lostcolony01.htm) ---
**Author:** ![dave316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dave316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dave316)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/40 "2003-05-10T13:39:13Z")
English, Indiana it was moved within the last ten years don’t know what all they have at their old site [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890.md?page=3)