Ghost Town
Guide to the Ghost Towns of
“The
Empire State”
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Treasures Ghost Town USA Column Index for New
York |
New York is another one
of the early colonies that eventually became a state. Its long period of settlement has
contributed many ghost towns to our interest list. There are old canal towns, lumbering centers,
mining camps, frontier forts, resorts and other habitations worth looking
for. However, I have not had the opportunity to
explore much of New York (other than NYC), so what remains at any of these
sites is unknown to me. If you know of any ghost towns in the Empire
State that are not listed here, or know the current status of towns listed
with little information, please contact us… PLEASE NOTE: Where
photos are indicated thusly (PHOTO!), please use your
browser’s “BACK” button to return to this page. More photos will be added over time. |
ADIRONDAK |
Essex Co. |
Old iron/titanium
mining town. Class C ghost town. Last residents probably in the late 1940's
early 1950's. Oldest building goes back to 1830's. It is off County (?)
Highway 25, north of Newcomb, NY. Easier to give coordinates: N 44.088279 deg W 74.056064 deg. Contributed by Bruce Behan, Jul 01, 2004 I should have added that the town is also known
as "Tahawus" (pronounced "Tah-hahs.") It is accessible to
the public ( there is a tailhead parking lot there for one of the hiking
trails) and I believe there are plans to preserve the town. BB, Jul 02, 2004 SEE Tahawus (BELOW)
GBS |
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ALPINA |
Lewis Co. |
Iron forge community site north of Lake Bonaparte, at the northern
point of the county, 15 miles north of the town of Natural Bridge. |
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BAILEYTOWN |
Orange Co. |
Baileytown is shown in the 5th Edition of
DeLorme's NY State Atlas & Gazetteer.
It is near West Point. |
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BEAVER
RIVER |
Herkimer Co. |
At the east end of Stillwater Reservoir, 10 miles east of the town of Stillwater,
which is in the north end of the county, due east of Lowville. |
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CAMP
SCHUYLER |
Herkimer Co. |
Near the Mohawk River, one mile east of Mohawk, & 1.5 miles south
of Herkimer. |
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CANNONSVILLE |
Delaware Co. |
Now under one of the reservoirs that supply water to New York City. |
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DELAWARE
& HUDSON CANAL |
Sullivan Co. |
Ghost canal and assorted gatehouses and other habitations. There are many locations along this canal
worth looking for. |
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DOODLETOWN |
Rockland Co. |
Doodletown in
Rockland County NY was a town established prior to the American Revolution
along the Hudson Valley. It was inhabited until the 1960's when the
state acquired the last piece of land as part of the Bear Mountain State
Park. Most buildings have been torn down, however a mansion, hotel
and a power plant still exist as well as a road (now little more than a
path in the woods), a cemetery and other infrastructure still exists although
somewhat overgrown and hidden in the woods. Contributed by RPirong, August 27, 2006 |
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|
New
York Co.* SEE NOTE
in text |
In Upper New York Bay at the mouth of the Hudson River, southwest of
the southern tip of Manhattan Island.
Access is by Ferry. Ellis
Island is a class C/F
location. In
1998, the US Supreme Court split Ellis Island between NJ and NY. This historic immigration station was an
extremely busy, self contained island community that served as one of the
busiest immigration stations in the country from 1892-1954. PHOTO! This was our Ghost
Town of the Month for
January/February 2009 |
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FORT
LEVIS |
St. Lawrence Co. |
A 1750s era French military post in the St. Lawrence River, on Chimney
Island (Isle Royal) about 3.5 miles from Ogdensburg. |
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GIBSONVILLE |
Livingston Co. |
A paper mill town at the north end of Letchworth State Park, west of
Mt. Morris. It once had 40-50 houses,
a hotel and several stores. |
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GREENWOOD
FURNACE |
Orange Co. |
Just east of the NY State Thruway
(I-87), four miles south of Harriman, and west of Echo Lake. |
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HAMMONDVILLE |
Essex Co. |
Hammondville is an abandoned iron village west of Crown
Point, on the west side of Lake Champlain. Much of the ground in the area has
collapsed, and exploration may be dangerous.
A few buildings are said to still be there. |
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HOGENCAMP |
Orange Co. |
This small iron
mining camp was located in the center of Palisades Interstate Park, northwest
of the SH 210/Seven Lakes Parkway interchange, east of I-87. It supported the Hogencamp Iron Mine,
which was in operation from 1861-1885.
Nothing but rubble remains. |
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KNOTLIMB |
Orange Co. |
Between the west bank of the Hudson River and the River Hills. Actual location not
determined. During 2004 and 2005 I rec'd a couple E-mails
from folks about this town. "I have information on the ghost town
"Knotlimb". It in itself is not an actual place. This is part of an old legend from a book
I read as a child. Can you share with me what you know of the town?"
(I
responded but never heard back - GBS) AND "How did you hear
about "Knotlimb" ? Do you know the secret as I do? Perhaps we can
help each other out on this one." (I never heard
back from them either - GBS) My interest is picqued. Does anyone out there know anything about
Knotlimb? Is this a real place? OR is
it fictional? I'd love to hear from
you. GBS |
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LOVE
CANAL |
Niagara Co. |
A section of Niagara
Falls called Love Canal was abandoned in the 1970's and 80's. It was a
huge media event, as President Carter declared a federal emergency at Love
Canal. The story goes as
follows. Over the course of 20 years from the late 50's to 1978 people had
been complaining of noxious odors and strange substances seeping through the
ground in Love Canal. It was during this time that Children in Love
Canal were becoming very sick and many residents were falling victim to
cancer in alarmingly high numbers. Birth defects were extremely
high as well. An investigation in 1978 had shown that although it was
not secret, many if not all of the residents of Love Canal were unaware that
their neighborhood had been constructed on a toxic waste dump which has been
active up until about 5 years before the first homes and school was built on
the land. Building foundations and sewers had punctured a clay seal
placed over the toxic waste site. Aside from the Toxic
chemical waste dumped in the 40's and 50's. The army had also used the
site to dispose of waste from chemical weapons projects in the decades
before. Prior to that, the city of Niagara Falls had used the site for
waste disposal as well. EPA tests confirmed chromosome damage in residents of
love canal. 800 families were relocated. All that remains of
the west side is streets and the homes have been demolished. There are a
handful of homes still standing on the east side. The toxic area has
been closed off and today some new development is taking place near the fence
that separates the deadly zone from a less contaminated area. The new
area has been renamed Black Creek Village, I'm assuming developers
figured the stigma attached to the name Love Canal would keep people from
moving in. Contributed by RPirong, August 27, 2006 |
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MODEL
CITY |
Niagara Co. |
An industrial "utopia" east of Lewiston,
and near the mouth of the Niagara River. “Geoff” responded and
added this info Aug 29, 2006 He found the site on
Google maps and said: “If this (Google map location) is accurate, and that's where
Model City was, it appears to be a business and a baseball park now. If you
look at the hybrid picture the road is called Model City Road. I never knew
that's what the name was about. That may or may not be Seneca Indian Nation
Territory. If you follow Model City Road down the picture it’s not far from
Indian Hill Road and the building you see on the right is a gas station on
reservation land. |
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NEVERSINK
FLATS |
Sullivan Co. |
Neversink Flats was submerged when the New York
City Board of Water Supply built Neversink Dam in the Catskill Reservoir
System. |
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ORANGE
FURNACE |
Orange Co. |
This early day iron forge community was located just southeast of Lake
Tiorati. Exact location not
determined. |
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PORTAGE |
Livingston Co. |
Early 1900s era resort in the southern end of Letchworth State Park,
just north of Portageville. It died in
the 1930s. |
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RICHBURG |
Allegany Co. |
Oil boomtown on Little Genessee Creek, in the southwest corner of the
county. On SH 275, two miles northeast
of Bolivia. |
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SHARON
SPRINGS AKA – New Dorlach |
Schoharie Co. |
This class E recent semi-ghost town was a great resort town through the
1940’s. It smells like sulfur because
it happens to have several sulfur springs which were believed to have healing
properties. It was settled by the
Hasidic Jews who were banned from Saratoga Springs, NY. There are giant run-down and abandoned
hotels and several abandoned bath houses.
It has some great photo opportunities and is one of the most
beautiful, charming and creepy towns I have ever visited. It’s about 30-40 min. outside of Albany. It is located at the
“edge of the Catskill Mountains, overlooking the beautiful Mohawk Valley”
(Chamber of Commerce) Contributed by Claire Phelan (November 14, 2006) For a
detailed history on this historic old community check here: http://sharonspringschamber.com/history.htm |
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ST.
HELENA |
Livingston or Wyoming Co. |
A sawmill town east
of Silver Springs, at the north end of Letchworth Park. Exact location not determined. The following info
was submitted Jan 30, 2004 by Dale B. “St Helena, New York is sorta my neck of the woods. It used to be a
sawyer town, but to the best of my recollection there is nothing left of the
operation. I took a rafting trip down through the gorge when I was about 15
or so, but I don't remember seeing any building foundations. St Helena was
located along the Genesee River to the north of Letchworth State Park, also
known as the Grand Canyon of the East. There is a narrow, overgrown dirt
road/trail at St Helena that the kayakers used as a landing after running the
rapids in the gorge. I believe that the USGS co-ordinates would be:
If I remember
correctly, any & all remnants of |
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TAHAWUS |
Essex Co. |
Tahawus, NY, is
probably the best example of a ghost town in New York State. It's an
old mining village deep in the Adirondack State Park on Essex County Route
25. The road is closed but people can still enter by foot. Most
of the original buildings are still standing though in very poor condition
and are not safe to enter. Most impressive is the original Iron Ore
Mine and furnace still intact. Contributed by RPirong, August 27, 2006 SEE Adirondak (Above) GBS |
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WATERBORO |
Chautauqua Co. |
On old SH 17, about five miles west of Randolph, and northeast of
Jamestown. Just west of county line. |
OUTSIDE LINKS
Of interest to NEW YORK Ghost Towners.
Between the Lakes.com
is an interesting website dealing
with northeastern items of historical interest.
MORE INFORMATION
Historians estimate that there may be as many as
50,000 ghost towns scattered across the United States of America. Gary B. Speck
Publications is currently in process of publishing unique state, regional,
and county guides called The Ghost Town
Guru's Guide to the Ghost Towns of *** ™ These original guides are designed for anybody
interested in ghost towns. Whether you are a casual tourist looking for a new
and different place to visit, or a hard-core ghost town researcher, these
guides will be just right for you. With over 30 years of research behind
them, they will be a welcome addition to any ghost towner's library. Thank
you, and we'll see you out on the Ghost Town Trail! For
more information on the ghost towns of NEW YORK, contact us at Ghost
Town USA. E-mailers, PLEASE NOTE: Due
to the tremendous amount of viruses, worms and “spam,” out there, I no longer
open or respond to any e-mails with unsolicited attachments, OR messages on
the subject lines with “Hey”, “Hi”, “Need help”, “Help
Please”, “???”, or blank subject lines, etc. If you do send E-mail asking for
information, or sharing information, PLEASE
indicate the appropriate location AND
state name, or other topic on the “subject” line. THANK
YOU! :o) |
IMPORTANT These listings and historical vignettes of ghost
towns, near-ghost towns and other historical sites in NEW YORK above
are for informational purposes only, and should NOT be construed to grant permission to
trespass, metal detect, relic or treasure hunt at any of the listed sites. If the reader of this guide is a metal detector
user and plans to use this guide to locate sites for metal detecting or relic
hunting, it is the READER'S
responsibility to obtain written permission from the legal property owners.
Please be advised, that any state or nationally owned sites will probably be
off-limits to metal detector use. Also be aware of any federal, state or
local laws restricting the same. When you are exploring the ghost towns of NEW
YORK, please abide by the Ghost Towner's
Code of Ethics. |
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FIRST POSTED: December 27, 2003
LAST UPDATED: August 07, 2010
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