I noticed that in Ottawa County, OK that two cities are now ghost towns that were once migrant bedroom communities for lead and zinc mining are now left abandoned.
The former City of Pitcher, dissolved on September 1, 2009 officially, is fenced off. Only US 69 is open, but the remnants of the former community are fenced off.
Don't know of the other named Cardin if it's fenced off, but makes you feel uneasy when traveling US 69:south of the Kansas Border. I did read it was done by the EPA for safety to seal off the former, due to concerns of sinkholes possibly forming from the mine shafts below caving in someday.
Are there any other more recent ghost towns out there with some interesting stories to tell?
Chernobyl?
Former company towns are most likely to fit this category. The company town of Taconite Harbor, Minnesota was sold off and its residents evicted in the 1980s. While no home structores remain, the streets do along with lamps and a basketball court, plus some belongings left behind.
New Idria in San Benito County was abandoned shortly after mercury mining became taboo in the 1970s. Despite the town being a Superfund site, it is surprisingly accessible if anyone is willing to visit a remote corner of the Diablo Range in central California.
Likely you are going to find a sizeable amount of post-1950 ghost towns if you search any of these categories:
- Company towns
- Former military bases
- Railroad sidings
- Mining and resource exploration
- Reservoirs
Centralia PA is a well-known example.
Love Canal NY is not really a distinct town, but as a neighborhood its a ghost town.
Quote from: HighwayStar on October 27, 2023, 12:50:49 AM
Love Canal NY is not really a distinct town, but as a neighborhood its a ghost town.
A past roadgeek meet had a stop there and we happened upon a couple of former residents. Of course, there are still a few people living there.
Quote from: Rothman on October 27, 2023, 07:02:59 AM
Quote from: HighwayStar on October 27, 2023, 12:50:49 AM
Love Canal NY is not really a distinct town, but as a neighborhood its a ghost town.
A past roadgeek meet had a stop there and we happened upon a couple of former residents. Of course, there are still a few people living there.
Love Canal is actually nicer than Niagara Falls on the US side. I stopped in Love Canal to see the place and had a fine time exploring. When I went to the falls I was repeatedly panhandled, tried getting dinner in a bar that seemed one step from a brawl, spent over 2 hours getting a bad dinner at Ruby Tuesday where I had to chase down a waitress to pay the check, and was then chased back to the motel by some other guy after I left the restaurant.
Quote from: HighwayStar on October 28, 2023, 07:32:47 PM
Quote from: Rothman on October 27, 2023, 07:02:59 AM
Quote from: HighwayStar on October 27, 2023, 12:50:49 AM
Love Canal NY is not really a distinct town, but as a neighborhood its a ghost town.
A past roadgeek meet had a stop there and we happened upon a couple of former residents. Of course, there are still a few people living there.
Love Canal is actually nicer than Niagara Falls on the US side. I stopped in Love Canal to see the place and had a fine time exploring. When I went to the falls I was repeatedly panhandled, tried getting dinner in a bar that seemed one step from a brawl, spent over 2 hours getting a bad dinner at Ruby Tuesday where I had to chase down a waitress to pay the check, and was then chased back to the motel by some other guy after I left the restaurant.
Perhaps be more wise when it comes to choosing a restaurant...
Quote from: Rothman on October 28, 2023, 08:18:27 PM
Quote from: HighwayStar on October 28, 2023, 07:32:47 PM
Quote from: Rothman on October 27, 2023, 07:02:59 AM
Quote from: HighwayStar on October 27, 2023, 12:50:49 AM
Love Canal NY is not really a distinct town, but as a neighborhood its a ghost town.
A past roadgeek meet had a stop there and we happened upon a couple of former residents. Of course, there are still a few people living there.
Love Canal is actually nicer than Niagara Falls on the US side. I stopped in Love Canal to see the place and had a fine time exploring. When I went to the falls I was repeatedly panhandled, tried getting dinner in a bar that seemed one step from a brawl, spent over 2 hours getting a bad dinner at Ruby Tuesday where I had to chase down a waitress to pay the check, and was then chased back to the motel by some other guy after I left the restaurant.
Perhaps be more wise when it comes to choosing a restaurant...
Maybe they should have chosen Olive Garden instead ... :poke:
Is it really a trip to Ruby Tuesday without a fight or confrontation?
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on October 28, 2023, 08:54:41 PM
Is it really a trip to Ruby Tuesday without a fight or confrontation?
This made my day.
Quote from: Road Hog on October 26, 2023, 04:53:03 PM
Chernobyl?
Pripyat is the actual city there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pripyat
A sidewalk and a divided highway gap along with some drain holes is what's left of the former mining town of Gagnon closed in the 1980s when we're on PQ-389.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/stA7Q9Wr4NyL8PDU8
Quote from: Brandon on October 28, 2023, 11:13:27 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on October 26, 2023, 04:53:03 PM
Chernobyl?
Pripyat is the actual city there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pripyat
I read an article a couple of years ago where the writer essentially said that the forest (nature) has now completely reclaimed the area, this after about 35 years of complete abandonment.
Mike
Here some pictures and videos of the former mining town of Joutel in Northern Abitibi in Quebec before its closing in 1998 on these French websites and after its closing where nature reclaim slowly but surely the area.
https://rivoq.ca/joutel/
http://chez-zoreilles.blogspot.com/2009/11/lhistoire-jamais-racontee-de-joutel.html
https://richard3.net/2018/10/29/villages-fantomes-du-quebec-bienvenue-a-joutel/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxaT4Ac73V0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVIFhOgz59Q
There's several cities in the Fukushima exclusion zone that are still abandoned, while others are starting to be re-populated.
A few WA areas destroyed in recent wildfires (such as Pine City) will likely see some redevelopment eventually.
How does one know whether the ghosts are recent or not?
There is a ghost subdivision west of LAX in Los Angeles. I'm told the airport expansion caused that neighborhood to die..
Quote from: roadman65 on October 29, 2023, 07:42:19 PM
There is a ghost subdivision west of LAX in Los Angeles. I'm told the airport expansion caused that neighborhood to die..
There's also another ghost subdivision northwest of St.Louis-Lambert airport. https://maps.app.goo.gl/j271bjGfGnpp2p3K6
Yukon west of NAS Jacksonville is more or less the same situation.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/california-city
California City in Kern County, CA it was hyped up to be a city that would rival places like San Jose and Los Angeles but that never happened.
Quote from: bing101 on October 30, 2023, 01:30:21 PM
https://allthatsinteresting.com/california-city
California City in Kern County, CA it was hyped up to be a city that would rival places like San Jose and Los Angeles but that never happened.
But also has over 10,000 residents and definitely isn't a ghost town. Garlock is probably the best the known ghost town in the general vicinity of California City.