List of ghost towns in Georgia (U.S. state)

Railroad sign for Constitution, in Dekalb County, which was absorbed into Atlanta

The following is an incomplete list of ghost towns in Georgia. Ghost towns can include sites in various states of disrepair and abandonment. Some sites no longer have any trace of civilization and have reverted to pasture land or empty fields. Other sites are unpopulated but still have standing buildings. Some sites may even have a sizable, though small population, but there are far fewer citizens than in its grander historic past.

Classification

Street in Livingston

Barren site

• Sites no longer in existence
• Sites that have been destroyed
• Covered with water
• Reverted to pasture
• May have a few difficult to find foundations/footings at most

Old powerhouse in High Falls

Neglected site

• Only rubble left
• Roofless building ruins
• Buildings or houses still standing, but majority are roofless

Historic Seaborn Goodall House, all that remains in Jacksonboro

Abandoned site

• Building or houses still standing
• Buildings and houses all abandoned
• No population, except caretaker
• Site no longer in existence except for one or two buildings, for example old church, grocery store

Semi abandoned site

• Building or houses still standing
• Buildings and houses largely abandoned
• Few residents
• Many abandoned buildings
• Small population

  

  New Echota has been preserved as a museum

Historic community

• Building or houses still standing
• Still a busy community
• Smaller than its boom years
• Population has decreased dramatically, to one fifth or less.

List

Name	County	Other names	Location	Settled	Abandoned	Current status	Remarks
Agnes	Lincoln			1889	1955 [1]		A small Hamlet located away from waterways or railroads. [2]
Allatoona	Bartow		Lake Allatoona	1838 [3]	1949 [4]	Submerged	Flooded in the mid-1940s to create Lake Allatoona, today a recreational spot. In the 1980s, low water levels allowed remnants of the town to be visible from the water. [4]
Allon	Crawford			early 1800s			An industry town for the Atlanta Sand & Supply Company. [5]
Apalachee	Morgan	Florence		1889	1995	Abandoned	One of the earliest settlements in Morgan County. [6]
Apollo	Putnam						appeared on maps as late as 1955. [7]
Argo	Fannin
Armstrong	Wilkes
Auraria	Lumpkin	Dean, Deans, Nuckollsville, Scuffle Town					settled during the Georgia Gold Rush but declined after the California Gold Rush and Colorado Gold Rush.
Barnett Shoals	Oconee				1995		a mill town dissolved in 1995. [8]
Beech Hill	Wilkinson
Belle Vista	Glynn
Bender	Laurens
Bethany	Baker					Neglected	Contains the collapsing remains of many buildings and stores. [9]
Bingham	Jeff Davis
Birdford	Tattnall
Bladen	Glynn
Blountsville	Jones						heavily damaged by the Civil War and never recovered. [10]
Brasstown	Towns						former Cherokee village. [11]
Broomtown	Chattooga
Burnt Fort	Camden
Burton	Rabun				1919	Submerged	flooded to create Lake Burton in 1919. [12]
Ceylon	Camden
Cement	Bartow		2 miles north of Kingston			Abandoned
Centerville	Charlton
Cheevertown	Baker			1882 [13]
Christopher	Chattahoochee
Cole City	Dade	Cole			1995		a settlement founded near the mouth of the Dade Coal Company coal mine. [14] [15]
Colerain	Camden
Conasauga	Gilmer						a Cherokee settlement that was overtaken by European-Americans and later abandoned for larger towns. [16]
Constitution	DeKalb				1952	Absorbed	absorbed into Atlanta in 1952.
Corinth	Sumter		12 miles east of Americus
Clyde	Bryan						Formerly the county seat of Bryan County. [17]
Dewsville	Baker
Doctortown	Wayne
Due	Fannin
Ebenezer	Effingham					Semi-abandoned	Today, the Jerusalem Lutheran Church is the only building in use.
Eelbeck	Chattahoochee						An old Cherokee settlement
Etowah	Floyd
Fairview	Chattooga
Floydtown	Miller
Ford	Bartow
Fowlstown	Decatur						settled and abandoned twice.
Franklinville	Lowndes
Gaillard	Crawford				1951		A railroad community that died after the closure of the rail line. [5]
Gerber	Walker
Grantville	Greene
Greenbush	Walker
Grisworldville	Jones						Largely destroyed in 1864 during the American Civil War. [18]
High Falls	Monroe						High Falls State Park contains the abandoned industrial town of High Falls. [19]
Huguenot	Elbert
Hardwicke	Bryan			1754
Jacksonboro	Screven					Abandoned/historic	Houses the historic Seaborn Goodall House. [20]
Jamestown	Chattahoochee
Johntown	Dawson
Josselyn	Liberty	Josselin, Joselin	W of Riceboro(ugh), NE of Walthourville, SW of McIntosh (ghost town, not county)				shown on 1893 Woods Bros. map
Kite	Johnson					Abandoned, Decaying Buildings & Houses/Very Low Population Dying Off
Knoxville	Crawford					Semi-abandoned	Population decreased as the railroads extended. [5]
Lang	Carroll
Laingkat	Decatur	Land Cat
Ligon	Bartow
Livingston	Floyd
Mimsville	Baker			ca. 1880 [21]	1914 [21]
McIntosh	Liberty						was a railroad stop. Not to be confused with neighboring McIntosh County
New Bridge	Lumpkin
New Echota	Gordon				1830s	Historic	The capital city of the Cherokee Nation until their forced removal in the 1830s.
New Savannah	Augusta-Richmond			ca. 1740			A former Chickasaw settlement which became a tobacco town, waning with the tobacco industry in the early 19th century.
Oketeyeconne	Clay					Submerged	A former unincorporated town along the Chattahoochee River that was flooded to create Walter F. George Lake. [22]
Olympia	Lowndes
Oscarville	Forsyth				1912	Submerged	Flooded during the formation of Lake Lanier. In 1912, it was the site of a lynching which prompted the removal of all black residents. [23]
Owensbyville	Heard
Petersburg	Elbert						a tobacco town that was the third largest city in Georgia between 1800 and 1810. [24]
Recovery	Decatur
Roanoke	Stewart				1836		Raided by Creek Indians in 1836 and never rebuilt. [25]
Rollo	Crawford			early 1800s			An industry town for the Atlanta Sand & Supply Company. [5]
San Barnard	Worth						the county seat in the 1850s. [26]
Scull Shoals	Greene						Originally settled in the early 19th century to use the rapids to power watermills. By the 1880s, erosion upstream had halted this industry. [27]
Shackelton	Chattooga			1909	1920s		Mining community formed in 1909 and abandoned after the mines closed in the 1920s. [28]
Socrates	Monroe
Starkville	Lee				1995		A cemetery remains at the site. [29]
Sunbury	Liberty				1864		lost much of its population to natural disaster and trading competition by the mid 19th century. In 1864, the remaining town was destroyed during Sherman's March to the Sea.
Sweden	Pickens
Tarver	Echols
Tatum	Dade
Taylors Creek	Liberty				1940s	Evicted	evacuated in the 1940s to make room for a military installation. [30]
Thalmann	Glynn						In 1979, a train stop in Thalmann was rerouted through Jesup, [31] causing the community to decline.
Trader's Hill	Charlton						The first county seat in Charlton County. [32]
Treat	Haralson (located partially in Polk County) [33]
Troupville	Lowndes				c. 1900		largely abandoned by the end of the 19th century, after railroad traffic in nearby Valdosta drew away most of the town's residents. [34]
Visage	Towns
Walnut	Lumpkin
Warsaw	McIntosh
Westlake	Twiggs
Willie	Liberty				1940s	Evicted	evacuated in the 1940s to make room for a military installation. [35]
Wisdoms Store	Harris
Woodstown	Henry
Wynns Mill	Henry
Youngcane	Union
Zirkle	Pierce				1926		Died out following the closure of the sawmill in 1926. [36]

See also

• List of counties in Georgia
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Georgia

References

1. "Lincoln County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
2. Candler, Allen Daniel; Evans, Clement Anselm (1906). Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons. State historical association. p.  29.
3. "Allatoona – Etowah Valley Historical Society" . Retrieved May 2, 2019.
4. winecoff (March 14, 2013). "History Of Allatoona Lake". Lake Allatoona Association. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
5. "Q&A with Victoria Simmons author of "Vanished Towns Revisited: Crawford County and Byron, Georgia"". The Telegraph. May 28, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
6. "Apalachee Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
7. "Putnam County, 1955". Rand McNally Map of Georgia, 1955. GeorgiaInfo. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
8. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 14. ISBN   0-915430-00-2.
9. Baker County Historical Society (1991). The History of Baker County. Newton, Baker County, Georgia, USA: Baker County Historical Society. pp. 54–69. LCCN   92080765.
10. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 21. ISBN   0-915430-00-2.
11. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Brasstown (historical)
12. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Burton (historical)
13. "Post Offices". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
14. Acts Passed by the General Assembly of Georgia. J. Johnston. 1873. p. 127.
15. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 48. ISBN   0-915430-00-2.
16. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Conasauga (historical)
17. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 46. ISBN   0-915430-00-2.
18. "Griswoldville". American Battlefield Trust. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
19. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 108. ISBN   0-915430-00-2.
20. "The Goodall House". GA Historical Society. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
21. "Post Offices". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
22. "Oketeyeconne, Georgia GA Community". Georgia Hometown Locator. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
23. "The truth behind Oscarville and the violent removal of Black residents from Forsyth County years before Lake Lanier was built".
24. (Jones Jr. 1878:233-239)
25. Sherwood, Adiel (1837). A Gazetteer of the State of Georgia. P. Force. p. 219.
26. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 197. ISBN   0-915430-00-2.
27. Coulter, E Merton (March 1964). "Scull Shoals: An Extinct Georgia Manufacturing and Farming Community". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 48 (1): 33–63. ISSN   0016-8297.
28. "Chattooga County". Calhoun Times. September 1, 2004. p. 38. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
29. Gosa, John. "Former Lee County seat now ghost town" . Retrieved November 15, 2017.
30. "Fort Stewart". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
31. Thalmann, Georgia Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)
32. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 230. ISBN   0-915430-00-2.
33. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Treat (historical)
34. "Letter From Valdosta". Savannah Morning News. Savannah, Georgia. May 5, 1874.
35. "The town of Willie, Georgia. It is in the Hinesville Army camp area and is being evacuated". Library of Congress. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
36. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 261. ISBN   0-915430-00-2.