Use These Maps to Find Ghost Towns in Your Area
Visiting a (real) ghost town is one of the closest things to time travel. This is especially true when you come across a building or house that looks like its occupants suddenly disappeared during the day without picking anything up before leaving.
And while some ghost towns, like Bodie in California , which is now a state historic park, are famous tourist destinations, others are harder to find (sometimes because they are literally off the beaten track). There is also a chance that there is a ghost town nearby that you did not even know existed.
Luckily, there are various interactive maps that can point explorers in the right direction. Here are some examples.
America’s ghost towns
To create the ” Ghost Towns of America ” map, a team from the telematics company Geolab surveyed more than 3,800 ghost towns located in all 50 states. To use the map, click on the state you want to explore and you will get a summary of its ghost towns, including the total number of ghost towns, as well as the counties and metropolitan areas that contain the most abandoned villages. The map also offers a more detailed overview of the country’s 10 ghost towns.
Ghost Town Gallery
The good news is that the interactive map on the Ghost Town Gallery website has much more detailed information than the one mentioned above. The bad news is that it only provides this information for ghost towns in nine states in the western US (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah).
US ghost towns
Yes, the interactive map on GhostTowns.com looks a little dated, but it’s also one of the most complete and useful. Again, start by clicking on the state. This will open the map of the state divided into numbered parts and the list of ghost towns below, including the part of the map where they are located.
You will need to determine the exact locations of the cities yourself, but if you click on each name, you will be redirected to a page with detailed information about the ghost town. It includes:
- His name
- The county in which it is located
- The type of vehicle required to enter the city (i.e. is a 4WD vehicle suitable or is a 4WD or SUV required)
- local climate
- Best time of year to visit
- Whether it’s an entire ghost town or a mixture of abandoned and occupied houses and other structures.
Finally, there is a paragraph or two about the history of each city, as well as comments on whether the remains are worth visiting.