# Ghost Towns In Eastern USA-Are There any?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890>\
**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:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![PRNYouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PRNYouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PRNYouth)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/41 "2003-05-10T14:40:35Z")

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[Thurmond, West Virginia](http://home.earthlink.net/~bfklar/ghosttowns/thurmond.html), is sort of a ghost town. It’s a beautiful little place on the bank of the New River in southern West Virginia. There are still some homes there, but last I heard, there were only six residents up on the hill behind the main street. The main street consists of two railroad tracks and a narrow dirt road.

The movie _Matewan_, starring recent Oscar winner Chris Cooper and James Earl Jones, was filmed there. In the early 1900s, it was a boomtown because of coal and the railroad. The world’s longest poker game was played there.

Many of the buildings still stand, and it’s an intriguing place to visit. I like to go down there and take pictures each time I’m in West Virginia.

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**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghost-towns-in-eastern-usa-are-there-any/173890/42 "2003-05-10T20:08:19Z")

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We have several ghost towns in these parts. The people that live in them just aren’t aware of it, yet. :rolleyes:

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