Ghost town

A once-inhabited town or settlement that has been largely abandoned, often after losing its economic or strategic purpose.

Gold rush: A rapid migration of people to a region after the discovery of gold. Gold rushes created boomtowns that often emptied when deposits or prospects ran out.
Boomtown: A settlement that grows rapidly during a sudden surge in economic activity. Its rapid rise contrasts with the collapse that can leave a ghost town.
Bodie, California: A former gold-mining town in California preserved in a state of arrested decay. Bodie exemplifies a mining settlement abandoned after its economic fortunes declined.
Industrial heritage: The surviving buildings, infrastructure, and practices associated with past industry. Ruined mines, mills, and railways can become valued records of a town’s former economy.
Mining town: A settlement whose population and economy depend chiefly on extracting nearby minerals. Many ghost towns began as mining towns and declined with exhausted or unprofitable workings.
Economic obsolescence: The loss of an asset’s usefulness or value because economic conditions or technology have changed. A town can become economically obsolete when its defining resource or function disappears.
Centralia, Pennsylvania: A Pennsylvania town largely abandoned after an underground coal-mine fire began in 1962. Centralia shows how a persistent environmental hazard can drive long-term evacuation.
Heritage tourism: Travel motivated partly or chiefly by interest in the history and heritage of a place. Visitors can support preservation and local economies around accessible abandoned settlements.
Railroad town: A settlement founded or expanded around a railway station, junction, or other rail service. Railway realignments and closures could leave towns without their main source of commerce.
Rural depopulation: The decline of population in rural areas, often through migration to cities or regions with more jobs. Ghost towns are an extreme outcome of settlement-wide population loss.

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RuinsRelated: A ghost town describes an abandoned settlement, while ruins describe its surviving structures.