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State hub · Nebraska
Nebraska's ghost towns are mostly not mining camps. The oldest are Missouri River towns of the 1850s: St. Deroin grew from a trading post named in 1853 and lived on a ferry until the river moved, and Rock Bluff, founded in 1854, outfitted freight wagons for the Plains until railroads bypassed it. Along the Platte, Dobytown sprang up in 1859 three miles west of Fort Kearny to serve trail traffic and died when the fort was abandoned in 1871. Later came railroad and homestead towns: Belmont, on a Burlington line in Dawes County from 1889, Monowi, platted in 1902 when the railroad arrived, and DeWitty, a settlement of Black homesteaders in the Sandhills from its first claims in 1902 until the last of its land was sold in 1936.
The sites are spread across the state, with clusters along the Missouri in the east and in the Panhandle and Sandhills. What survives is usually modest: a brick schoolhouse, a cemetery, a historical marker in a cornfield, a railroad tunnel. About 97 percent of Nebraska's land is privately owned, so many sites can only be seen from the road. Fort Robinson and Indian Cave state parks are exceptions, with standing buildings open to visitors.
Town guides
Our complete guides, most-read first: history, what's left, current access, photos, maps and directions.
GuideBoyd County
A railroad village platted in 1902 that counted 123 people in 1930 and one in 2010. Elsie Eiler, its only resident, runs the tavern and the library…
GuideDawes County
The Army post where Crazy Horse was killed in 1877 and the Northern Cheyenne broke out in 1879, later a cavalry remount depot and a prisoner-of-war…
GuideSheridan County
During and just after the First World War, potash from the Sandhills lakes made Antioch a town of thousands. The plants closed by 1921. Their…
GuideCherry County
The largest and longest-lasting African American settlement in rural Nebraska, a scatter of Kinkaid homesteads along the North Loup River. The last…
GuideNemaha County
A trading post and ferry town of the 1850s on the Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation, eaten away by the Missouri and empty by 1920. Its schoolhouse, moved…
GuideDawes County
A tunnel camp on the Burlington line south of Crawford that became a small farm town. It peaked at about eighty people in the late 1920s and lost its…
GuideKearney County
Kearney City grew up in 1859 just outside Fort Kearny, selling whiskey, supplies and company to soldiers and travelers on the Platte River road.…
GuideCass County
A Missouri River crossing settled in 1854 that outfitted freighters, rivaled Plattsmouth for the county seat and had almost 200 people in 1877. The…
Watch
A tiny library, an old river town school, and a railroad tunnel. Explore the history, maps and access notes before you go.
Where to start
Open attractions, living towns and true ruins, with their current status.
Cass County
Missouri River crossing of 1854 with nearly 200 people in 1877. Railroads drained it, the post office closed in 1904, and the one-story brick Rock Bluff School, once the Naomi Institute, is all that remains, standing in a photo of March 2012. We found no source on access.
Boyd County
Railroad village platted in 1902, about 150 people in the 1930s. Elsie Eiler, its only resident, still runs the Monowi Tavern and Rudy's Library.
Dawes County
Army post from 1874 to 1947, where Crazy Horse was killed in 1877. Now a state park with museums and lodging in the historic officers' quarters.
Nemaha County
Ferry town on the Missouri, named in 1853 and abandoned by 1920 after floods. Its 1868 brick school, moved to the bluffs in 1912, and the cemetery are in Indian Cave State Park, which holds living history events there.
Kearney County
Adobe trail town of 1859, three miles west of Fort Kearny, with a Pony Express station. It emptied after the fort closed in 1871. No buildings remain; a state historical marker stood on Highway 50A in a photo of October 2009.
Dawes County
Burlington railroad town of 1889 that peaked near 80 people. A few buildings, the cemetery and the bypassed Belmont railroad tunnel remain, the tunnel in a photo of April 2012; the 1927 school was sold in 2010 to become a private home.
Cherry County
Nebraska's largest Black homestead colony, near the North Loup River, with first claims in 1902 and a peak of 150 people in 1915. A building foundation remained in October 2024. The state historical marker dedicated on U.S. 83 in 2016 stood at the Cherry County Historical Museum in Valentine in September 2026.
Near a city
Driving distance and time from downtown, routed over OpenStreetMap roads. Dirt roads are usually slower than the estimate.
Directory
Every town, camp and settlement in our Nebraska index, with its county. A ◦ marks sites already on the map.
No sites match. Try fewer letters or another county.
Plan a trip
About 97 percent of Nebraska's land is privately owned, according to a University of Nebraska-Lincoln land stewardship analysis. Most townsites are farm or ranch land, so markers, cemeteries and buildings visible from public roads are what you can usually see. Belmont's old school was sold in 2010 to become a private home. Get permission before walking onto any site.
Fort Robinson and Indian Cave, home to St. Deroin's school, are Nebraska state parks, and Game and Parks sells vehicle park entry permits for access to them. Check current permit prices, lodging and museum hours with Game and Parks before an off-season trip.
Belmont is on a gravel road about 11 miles southeast of Crawford, and the DeWitty homestead land lies off U.S. 83 in Cherry County, far from large towns. Carry fuel, water and an offline map, and check 511 Nebraska for winter road closures.
Cemeteries are often among the last things left, as at St. Deroin, and at DeWitty only a foundation was reported in 2024; its marker has moved to Valentine. On federal land, objects of archaeological interest at least 100 years old are protected by the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. On private land, ask the owner first.
FAQ
There is no official count. Our index lists 101 sites, 59 of them with coordinates on our map so far.
For standing buildings you can walk through, Fort Robinson State Park, a former Army post, is the easiest. St. Deroin's school and cemetery at Indian Cave State Park and Monowi, the town with one resident, are smaller sites worth the trip.
Yes. Elsie Eiler is Monowi's only resident and serves as its mayor, clerk, treasurer, tavern keeper and librarian, as Guinness World Records reported in May 2025. The 2020 census listed two people, which Wikipedia attributes to privacy noise added to census data.
Portal and Elk City are on the edge of the metro area, and Rock Bluff, south of Plattsmouth, is a short drive. St. Deroin, in Indian Cave State Park, is farther south along the Missouri. Drive times on this page are routed estimates.
Most are. About 97 percent of the state's land is privately owned, so assume a townsite is private unless it is in a park. Fort Robinson and Indian Cave state parks are open to the public with a vehicle park entry permit.
Abandoned