Ghost Towning/exploring abandoned places

[Rothman]

What I don't understand is how ghost towns can exist in Massachusetts, other than the one created by the Quabbin Reservoir. You're almost always within a few miles of several hundred people, no matter where you are in the state. There are no places where absolutely nobody lives (except bodies of water, airports, and other places where houses cannot exist).

The ones by the Quabbin, not just one.  Dana's just the most infamous.  Resentment still runs hot in the Swift River valley over the Quabbin.

[Max Rockatansky]

What I don't understand is how ghost towns can exist in Massachusetts, other than the one created by the Quabbin Reservoir. You're almost always within a few miles of several hundred people, no matter where you are in the state. There are no places where absolutely nobody lives (except bodies of water, airports, and other places where houses cannot exist).

The ones by the Quabbin, not just one.  Dana's just the most infamous.  Resentment still runs hot in the Swift River valley over the Quabbin.

I'm sure there is a ton of rail sidings that never really amounted to anything that are long gone as well.  If you start digging into the main freight lines in the state you're bound to find something. 

[kphoger]

Remember sears, old navy, and home depot?

Huh?  Of course I remember them.  I've shopped at a Home Depot a couple of times in the last few months, as a matter of fact.  What's your point?

East Cleveland, Detroit, Gary, are all dangerous ghost towns. ...

I don't think you know what a "ghost town" is. ...

A ghost town is an abandoned town basically. Deserted ...

So, basically, a ghost town is not East Cleveland, Detroit, or Gary.

By the way, Lumberton (NC)–which is also not a ghost town–has higher crime rates than Detroit.  Similar homicide rate, slightly lower rape rate–but significantly higher rates of robbery, burglary, and theft.  Don't believe everything you hear.

[webny99]

Remember sears, old navy, and home depot?

Huh?  Of course I remember them.  I've shopped at a Home Depot a couple of times in the last few months, as a matter of fact.  What's your point?

Either those were examples of stores that used to have locations in Rocky Mount that have now closed...

...or he thought you were starting a comprehensive list of every store in Rocky Mount and wanted to add to it.

[Max Rockatansky]

Remember sears, old navy, and home depot?

Huh?  Of course I remember them.  I've shopped at a Home Depot a couple of times in the last few months, as a matter of fact.  What's your point?

East Cleveland, Detroit, Gary, are all dangerous ghost towns. ...

I don't think you know what a "ghost town" is. ...

A ghost town is an abandoned town basically. Deserted ...

So, basically, a ghost town is not East Cleveland, Detroit, or Gary.

By the way, Lumberton (NC)–which is also not a ghost town–has higher crime rates than Detroit.  Similar homicide rate, slightly lower rape rate–but significantly higher rates of robbery, burglary, and theft.  Don't believe everything you hear.

I think the term for exploring abandonment in blighted cities is technically "urban exploration."   Usually both hobbies are looking for similar things like abandoned buildings or infrastructure. 

[kphoger]

Home Depot is not an abandoned building.  It's now a church.

Sears doesn't appear to be an abandoned building.  It's now an Ollie's (I think).

Old Navy does appear to be abandoned, but the rest of the strip mall seems to be doing fine.

[tolbs17]

Sears doesn't appear to be an abandoned building.  It's now an Ollie's (I think).

It was part of the Tarrytown Mall that got flooded in 1999. It was sitting there until 2006 and when it got replaced with a Sam's club.

[bing101]

Australias Ghost town is Wittenoom. It became abandoned due to the Asbestos hazards.

[Max Rockatansky]

Australias Ghost town is Wittenoom. It became abandoned due to the Asbestos hazards.

Sounds like New Idria here in California.  They had Mercury contamination on top of naturally occurring asbestos fibers in the nearby Clear Creek Recreation Area. 

[ozarkman417]

Australias Ghost town is Wittenoom. It became abandoned due to the Asbestos hazards.

Sounds like New Idria here in California.  They had Mercury contamination on top of naturally occurring asbestos fibers in the nearby Clear Creek Recreation Area.

This sounds a lot like Times Beach, the town about 25 miles away from St. Louis that had their streets sprayed with dioxin-contaiminated oil on their dirt roads.

[crt08]

There are quite a few of them around central Florida including the Brewster location you mention. I don't know that they all qualify as ghost towns, per se, because in many cases there's not really any buildings left. But there are lots of places which were once booming, especially with the cattle and logging industries that were once very common.

I discovered the ghosttowns.com website years ago and still visit from time to time. Some of the locations I already knew about, but when I was looking at the locations, I found several of them had pictures of places I'd been past while traveling on the back roads and never realized the significance. There is sometimes evidence, such as old buildings or cemeteries but I never realized they were once well populated areas since in many cases there's just nothing out there today to give the impression, other than a few scattered residents among orange groves and pastures.

I've also seen some other places listed on the internet as ghost towns but I cannot find any information on them. My neighborhood is actually right between two locations that were apparently once settlements, but I can find nothing existing today that remains from the time.

[Max Rockatansky]

There are quite a few of them around central Florida including the Brewster location you mention. I don't know that they all qualify as ghost towns, per se, because in many cases there's not really any buildings left. But there are lots of places which were once booming, especially with the cattle and logging industries that were once very common.

I discovered the ghosttowns.com website years ago and still visit from time to time. Some of the locations I already knew about, but when I was looking at the locations, I found several of them had pictures of places I'd been past while traveling on the back roads and never realized the significance. There is sometimes evidence, such as old buildings or cemeteries but I never realized they were once well populated areas since in many cases there's just nothing out there today to give the impression, other than a few scattered residents among orange groves and pastures.

I've also seen some other places listed on the internet as ghost towns but I cannot find any information on them. My neighborhood is actually right between two locations that were apparently once settlements, but I can find nothing existing today that remains from the time.

Brewster is one of the better ones in Bone Valley because there is something to see with crumbling buildings.   Nichols was probably the best of the lot given there much of the company town left over:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2018/06/ghost-town-tuesday-nichols-fl.html?m=1

[tolbs17]

Here is abandoned. One  is an abandoned gas station and the other is a very slum one.

This is more of a village than a town though.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.2637703,-77.5825086,3a,75y,152.56h,93.6t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqLJWbounzO7IDVbu9wJVBQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

East Kinston is bad! And I heard is one of the most dangerous towns in NC.

[kphoger]

Here is abandoned. One  is an abandoned gas station and the other is a very slum one.

This is more of a village than a town though.

It's also not abandoned.  The town of Conetoe has a current estimated population of around 250.

Our nation is full of small towns that have passed their population peak, and I'm sure there are out-of-business gas stations in many of them.  Conetoe's population peak was 20 years ago, but at no point before 1980 did it have more people than it does now.

[Dirt Roads]

Here is abandoned. One  is an abandoned gas station and the other is a very slum one.

This is more of a village than a town though.

It's also not abandoned.  The town of Conetoe has a current estimated population of around 250.

Our nation is full of small towns that have passed their population peak, and I'm sure there are out-of-business gas stations in many of them.  Conetoe's population peak was 20 years ago, but at no point before 1980 did it have more people than it does now.

More importantly, it belongs in the Strange Pronunciation thread:  coh-Nee-toe

[Dirt Roads]

Surprised this one didn't hit the list yet:  Jerome, Arizona.  During its heyday with a population of nearly 15,000, it had two working hospitals.  IIRC, the population had dwindled to around 110 back in the early 2000s, but it looks like the population is up and holding steady at 444.  Ahh, the smell of molten copper in the morning.

[Max Rockatansky]

Surprised this one didn't hit the list yet:  Jerome, Arizona.  During its heyday with a population of nearly 15,000, it had two working hospitals.  IIRC, the population had dwindled to around 110 back in the early 2000s, but it looks like the population is up and holding steady at 444.  Ahh, the smell of molten copper in the morning.

And I struggle to figure out where most of those people lived (probably tents and shack) every time I visit.  For a near absolute ghost town Jerome definitely has a pulse to it and people love to go visit. 

[zzcarp]

Surprised this one didn't hit the list yet:  Jerome, Arizona.  During its heyday with a population of nearly 15,000, it had two working hospitals.  IIRC, the population had dwindled to around 110 back in the early 2000s, but it looks like the population is up and holding steady at 444.  Ahh, the smell of molten copper in the morning.

And I struggle to figure out where most of those people lived (probably tents and shack) every time I visit.  For a near absolute ghost town Jerome definitely has a pulse to it and people love to go visit.

I loved my trip through Jerome. The the switchbacks of the highway through town and steep grades of the streets and  reminded me more of a Swiss mountain town than something you'd normally find here in the States.

[zzcarp]

One ghost town in California, Cerro Gordo, was purchased by a YouTuber. He's been there just over a year and has an entire channel dedicated to his life in this abandoned town as he restores the old buildings and explores the abandoned mines.

[Max Rockatansky]

Surprised this one didn't hit the list yet:  Jerome, Arizona.  During its heyday with a population of nearly 15,000, it had two working hospitals.  IIRC, the population had dwindled to around 110 back in the early 2000s, but it looks like the population is up and holding steady at 444.  Ahh, the smell of molten copper in the morning.

And I struggle to figure out where most of those people lived (probably tents and shack) every time I visit.  For a near absolute ghost town Jerome definitely has a pulse to it and people love to go visit.

I loved my trip through Jerome. The the switchbacks of the highway through town and steep grades of the streets and  reminded me more of a Swiss mountain town than something you'd normally find here in the States.

AZ 89A/Old US 89A was one of my favorite drives to take my Camaro out on.  There hardly was ever any traffic heading north from Prescott Valley for some reason. 

A ghost town I hit recently was Rockport of Mendocino County on CA 1 north of Fort Bragg.  Rather than repeat what I said on Gribblenation I'll just link the blog:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/02/california-state-route-1-shoreline_14.html?m=1

[Dirt Roads]

Surprised this one didn't hit the list yet:  Jerome, Arizona.  During its heyday with a population of nearly 15,000, it had two working hospitals.  IIRC, the population had dwindled to around 110 back in the early 2000s, but it looks like the population is up and holding steady at 444.  Ahh, the smell of molten copper in the morning.

And I struggle to figure out where most of those people lived (probably tents and shack) every time I visit.  For a near absolute ghost town Jerome definitely has a pulse to it and people love to go visit.

Was there almost exactly 20 years ago, and it looked like a pretty big empty town back then.  The guide at the State Park said that the population was once over 33,000 and Jerome was listed as the largest city in Arizona for a while.  Doubtful, and I can't find any evidence.  But I did see both of the hospital locations as I drove around town.  Unless the competing mine barons couldn't agree on sharing a hospital, it seems unlikely that a town of nearly 15,000 could support two hospitals (even if the mines produced a steady stream of patients).

This one also belongs in the Strange Pronunciation thread:  jher-uhm, rhymes with our city Durham

[Max Rockatansky]

Surprised this one didn't hit the list yet:  Jerome, Arizona.  During its heyday with a population of nearly 15,000, it had two working hospitals.  IIRC, the population had dwindled to around 110 back in the early 2000s, but it looks like the population is up and holding steady at 444.  Ahh, the smell of molten copper in the morning.

And I struggle to figure out where most of those people lived (probably tents and shack) every time I visit.  For a near absolute ghost town Jerome definitely has a pulse to it and people love to go visit.

Was there almost exactly 20 years ago, and it looked like a pretty big empty town back then.  The guide at the State Park said that the population was once over 33,000 and Jerome was listed as the largest city in Arizona for a while.  Doubtful, and I can't find any evidence.  But I did see both of the hospital locations as I drove around town.  Unless the competing mine barons couldn't agree on sharing a hospital, it seems unlikely that a town of nearly 15,000 could support two hospitals (even if the mines produced a steady stream of patients).

This one also belongs in the Strange Pronunciation thread:  jher-uhm, rhymes with our city Durham

Another mining town of interest in Arizona that I've always liked is Vulture City out by Wickenburg.  Apparently that was close to 5,000 residents at one point but most of the housing structures have also disappeared.  What is neat with Vulture City was that most of the mining administration and infrastructure was left intact when it was shuttered in World War II.

[Richard3]

Those former mining cities/towns in AZ just reminds me Murdochville, QC.

In 1950, Noranda Mines started mining copper ore there, and in 1953, the town was incorporated.  The population climbed around 5000 in the mining peak, in the 1970s, but the mine closed definitively in 1999, followed by the foundry in 2002, so the population declined since. Just take a look...

1991 - 1689 inhabitants.
1996 - 1595 (-5.6%)
2001 - 1171 (-26.6%)
2006 - 812 (-30.7%)
2011 - 764 (-5.9%)
2016 - 651 (-14.8%)

In 2002, a referendum was held to close the town. Out of 799 people having the right to vote, 672 did; 434 of them to close the town, 238 to keep it alive. But go figure, the town is still alive today, but its population is melting like snow under spring sun.

Other "real" ghost towns in QC are Gagnon, and Joutel.

[tolbs17]

Oak City is also abandoned.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.9044118,-77.3073594,3a,80.9y,128.55h,87.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIy1rIyaeSSFv_snmzSEHOA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e1

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.9638468,-77.3025122,3a,20.5y,238.99h,86.38t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9lZQpAoJZYndhmhtst1BRg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e1

[Max Rockatansky]

Took Old CA 1 on Swanton Road through Swanton.  Swanton wasn't much more than a rail road siding and aside from a historic marker long gone.  There are some neat bridge structures to be found though on Swanton Road:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/151828809@N08/6vS61h