Abandoned Near a city · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7 Ghost Towns Near Philadelphia
Philadelphia has two kinds of ghost towns within reach. East of the city, in New Jersey's Pine Barrens, are old iron and paper towns: Atsion and Batsto in Wharton State Forest, and the Harrisville ruins nearby. West and north, in Pennsylvania, are canal, railroad and coal towns.
Frick's Lock is a canal village by the Limerick nuclear plant. Rausch Gap is a coal and rail town on the Appalachian Trail. Concrete City is a block of 1911 company houses near Nanticoke, and Centralia is the town a mine fire emptied.
Each one is within a three-hour drive of City Hall, by OSRM's estimate over OpenStreetMap roads. They're listed nearest first.
1.Atsion
An ironworks village in the Pine Barrens. Charles Read built a forge here in 1765 and 1766, and a furnace followed in 1774. By 1823 a visitor described the works as ruins.
- What's left
- The Samuel Richards Mansion of 1826 and other buildings of the Atsion Village historic district, which counts 7 contributing buildings.
- Visiting
- In Wharton State Forest, beside Atsion Lake and US 206. The grounds are open dawn to dusk, NJ State Parks runs guided mansion tours on most weekends, and the recreation area has a beach for summer swimming.
2.Frick's Lock
A village on the Schuylkill Canal, named for a double lock built on John Frick's land in the 1820s. It outlasted the canal, but the power company bought it in 1969 and 1970 for the Limerick nuclear plant across the river, and the last residents left by 1986.
- What's left
- Eleven historic structures, including a manor house from 1821 and a farmhouse from the 1750s. The locktender's house burned in 2008.
- Visiting
- Open only on free guided tours by the township's historical commission, under an agreement with the plant owner, Constellation, that allows escorted public access. In 2026 the tours ran on two Saturdays a month from May to October, the last on October 24; 2027 dates are not posted yet. The Schuylkill River Trail passes the district.
3.Batsto Village
An iron furnace town founded by Charles Read in 1766 that supplied the Continental Army with iron goods, including cannon and cannonballs. The Richards family ran it from 1784, later turning to glass, and its industry had ended by 1867. The state bought Joseph Wharton's lands in 1954 and 1955.
- What's left
- More than thirty 19th-century buildings, including the 36-room mansion, a working 1882 sawmill, a general store and the 1852 post office, which still operates.
- Visiting
- A state historic site on CR 542 in Wharton State Forest. The grounds are open daily, dawn to dusk, and guided mansion tours typically run Wednesday to Sunday. The state charges an entrance fee on summer weekends and holidays.
4.Harrisville
A mill site on the Oswego River in the Pine Barrens. A sawmill stood here by 1760 and a slitting mill by 1795. About 1815 it became a paper mill, and a town grew around the factory.
- What's left
- Ruins of the paper mill and a few foundations. A fire in 1914 destroyed what was left of the town.
- Visiting
- Beside CR 679 in Wharton State Forest, about 6 miles northwest of New Gretna; the Trail Conference notes room for several cars along the road. The Pinelands Alliance describes the mill ruins as fenced off, but we haven't confirmed current conditions.
5.Rausch Gap
A coal mining and railroad town on Sharp Mountain, with about 1,000 people by 1860. The railroad moved its shops to Pine Grove in 1872, and by 1910 everyone had gone.
- What's left
- Stone foundations and a small cemetery.
- Visiting
- In State Game Lands 211, where the Appalachian Trail crosses the Stony Valley rail-trail, about 3.8 miles along the grade from the Gold Mine Road trailhead by TrailLink's mileposts. The grade is closed to non-hunting cyclists and riders from the last Saturday in September to the third Saturday in January, so walk in then.
6.Concrete City
Company housing built in 1911 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad near Nanticoke: 20 concrete duplexes around a courtyard, by the state historical marker's count (Wikipedia says 22). The Glen Alden Coal Company abandoned it in 1924.
- What's left
- The concrete duplexes, standing in heavy disrepair.
- Visiting
- A state historical marker went up in 1998. The site has been used for police and fire training. We haven't confirmed who owns it or whether visitors are allowed.
7.Centralia
A coal town emptied by a mine fire that has burned under it since 1962. It had 1,986 people in 1950 and 1,017 in 1980. The state condemned the borough in 1992.
- What's left
- Empty streets, a few houses and five residents at the 2020 census.
- Visiting
- The remaining residents may stay for life under a 2013 agreement, and their homes are private. Pennsylvania DEP calls the fire area extremely dangerous, warns of dangerous gases and ground prone to sudden collapse, and "strongly discourages anyone from visiting the immediate area."
How we picked them
- We started from every mapped site in our index of 6,591 US ghost town sites and routed to each one from City Hall, keeping those within 180 minutes.
- We preferred real towns over forts, stage stations and single mines; places you can legally visit or see from a public road; and sites with something left to see. We list at most nine.
- Status means what we could confirm from a recent source. Where we couldn't, the entry says "Not verified". Check before you go, and treat locked gates and posted signs as closed.
Sources
- Wikipedia articles (read October 19, 2026): Atsion, New Jersey; Fricks Locks Historic District; Batsto Village, New Jersey; Harrisville, New Jersey; Rausch Gap, Pennsylvania; Concrete City; Centralia, Pennsylvania.
- NJ State Parks, "Wharton State Forest" (updated May 2026) and "Atsion Mansion Historic Site" (updated April 2026), read from Internet Archive copies of June and July 2026: Batsto history, buildings, hours, fees and tours; Atsion hours and tours. Batsto Citizens Committee, "Tours": Batsto mansion tour days.
- East Coventry Township, "Fricks Lock Village", read October 2026: history, the 1969–1970 purchase, escorted access, 2026 tour dates.
- TrailLink, "Stony Valley Rail-Trail", read October 2026: Rausch Gap at milepost 13.5 and Gold Mine Road at 17.3, State Game Lands 211, hunting-season closures.
- ExplorePAhistory.com, "Concrete City" marker: twenty double houses, the 1998 marker, training use.
- Pennsylvania DEP, "Centralia Mine Fire Resources": the fire and the safety warning.
- Pinelands Alliance (undated) and New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, "Wharton State Forest": the fenced Harrisville mill ruins and roadside parking. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited on the page.
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 20,000 or More, Ranked by July 1, 2025 Population: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-IP-EST2025-ANNRNK), U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Vintage 2025, released May 2026: Philadelphia city, Pennsylvania ranks 6 among US cities, with 1,574,281 people on July 1, 2025.
- Drive times and distances: OSRM routing on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), October 2026, from City Hall (39.9528, -75.1636) to each town's coordinates.
- Town list, counties and record pages: our index of ghosttowns.com state lists and Wikipedia's ghost town categories, October 2026.
- Map: US Census Bureau state and county boundaries via us-atlas (public domain).
Photo credits
- Atsion: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Frick's Lock: James Bubeck, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- Batsto Village: Travellers & Tinkers, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Harrisville: Rtsanderson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Concrete City: Anneman (Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad), Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- Centralia: Reelcheeper, Wikimedia Commons, CC0