Abandoned Towns
The arched west portal of Moonville Tunnel among autumn trees, with graffiti on the masonry and daylight at the far end

Railroad and road town

Moonville

The last family left this Vinton County railroad hamlet in 1947. Its brick-lined tunnel survived, and the former rail corridor became the Moonville Rail Trail.

39°18′24″N 82°19′17″W · ≈770 ft

Photo: Deerszn, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Rail trail · open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The Vinton County Park District, which runs the Moonville Rail Trail, says the trail and its tunnels are open to the public from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day; after 11 p.m. you need a park-district permit (page read October 22, 2026). ODOT’s project 120373 page, read October 20, 2026, lists two pedestrian bridges southeast from Hope-Moonville Road as Construction In Progress, with completion scheduled for fall 2026. Check with the park district for closures on that section before travelling.

Overview

A tunnel outlasted the settlement

Moonville grew beside the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad in the wooded hills of Vinton County. Mining and the railway sustained the small settlement. The line followed Raccoon Creek and cut through a hill in the tunnel that became the town’s best-known survivor.

As the coal workings closed, families moved away. Wikipedia dates the departure of the last family to 1947 and says the buildings had disappeared by the 1960s. It lists a cemetery and foundation stones alongside the tunnel. The railroad continued carrying trains after the settlement vanished; the article dates removal of the rails to 1988.

The tunnel now belongs to the story of a public trail. A 2025 partnership agreement assigns administration to the Vinton County Park District and routine maintenance to the nonprofit Moonville Rail Trail Association. The agreement covers the corridor and its tunnels. It does not turn every connecting path into part of the public trail.

Railroad and trail

Railroad and trail

  1. The Zaleski USGS sheet labels Moonville beside the railroad and Hewett Fork.
  2. The last family leaves, according to Wikipedia’s settlement history.
  3. Wikipedia dates removal of the rails to this year.
  4. MRTA minutes record visiting cyclists, bridge-deck repairs and continuing bridge projects.
  5. ODOT’s project page lists two nearby pedestrian bridges as Construction In Progress, with a fall 2026 completion target.

The lantern stories

The lantern stories

Moonville’s ghost stories describe a railroad worker carrying a lantern and a woman associated with the scent of lavender. These are legends. The surviving tunnel, the former railway and the settlement’s decline are the documented history; an apparition is not an established explanation for any of them.

Reading the old corridor

Reading the old corridor

The 1904 sheet puts Moonville between Hope and Ingham, with Hewett Fork nearby. The more detailed 1961 sheet labels Moonville beside the rail line and Lookout Rock to the south. Both help explain why the railway was such a strong link through these hills. The modern aerial view shows the wooded corridor rather than an intact town.

Hewett Fork winds through the valley east of Hope-Moonville Road; Lookout Rock is labeled to the south.
USGS topographic map. Hewett Fork winds through the valley east of Hope-Moonville Road; Lookout Rock is labeled to the south.
A narrow former rail corridor crosses densely wooded hills.
USGS aerial imagery. A narrow former rail corridor crosses densely wooded hills.

Historic maps

Moonville on USGS maps, 1904–1980

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Moonville, 1904
Zaleski sheet, 1904, 1:62,500 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Both routes stop on Hope-Moonville Road, about 262 metres from the mapped town point. They are driving routes to the road, not routes through the tunnel. Use the park district’s trailhead information for the walking approach; do not treat an undated listing’s creek-fording description as current advice.

USGS map locating Moonville and its approach routes

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From central McArthur14.1 miabout 30 min
  1. Start toward East Main Street (US 50) and turn right.2.6 mi
  2. Turn left onto Powder Plant Road (SR 677), then right to remain on SR 677.4.5 mi
  3. Turn left onto South Broadway Street, right onto Commercial Street and right at its end, still on SR 677.0.3 mi
  4. Turn left onto 2nd Street (SR 278) and follow SR 278.3.9 mi
  5. Turn right onto Wheelabout Road, bear left onto Shea Road and continue as Hope-Moonville Road to the computed endpoint.2.8 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • OSRM computed these routes on OpenStreetMap data on October 20, 2026. We have not driven them and found no dated report of road surfaces or vehicle requirements.
  • ODOT’s project 120373 page lists construction of two bridges southeast from Hope-Moonville Road, with a fall 2026 completion target. Do not infer a continuous through-route from the corridor’s total length.
  • The park district gives trailheads at Zaleski, Mineral, Hope Schoolhouse, Moonville Tunnel and King Hollow Tunnel, and opens the trail and tunnels from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Check for closures with the park district before setting out.

Photos

Moonville in photographs

Visitor reports

Been to Moonville?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Moonville

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Ohio index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, Moonville: undated fact sheet; county and reported remains only. Its old road ratings are not used as current driving advice.
  2. Wikipedia, Moonville, Ohio: history and coordinates, read October 20, 2026; undated present-tense descriptions are not current access evidence.
  3. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Route distances and times: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 20, 2026. Historical maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, sheet years shown below.
  4. Vinton County Park District, read October 22, 2026: the park district operates the Moonville Rail Trail, with maintenance by the Moonville Rail Trail Association; trailheads; the trail and its tunnels open to the public from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. any day, with a special use permit needed after 11 p.m. and for guided tours and events.
  5. Vinton County, Moonville Rail Trail Association: trail management, brick tunnel and corridor description; read in the browser October 20, 2026.
  6. Moonville Rail Trail partnership agreement, 2025: county ownership, park-district administration and association maintenance; includes tunnels and environs.
  7. MRTA meeting minutes, August 19, 2025: visiting bicyclists, bridge-deck replacement, two bridge installations still in progress and trailhead visibility work. The minutes say visitors “raved about how much they liked the trail.”
  8. ODOT, Moonville Trail Part 2/3 (PID 120373), read in Chrome October 20, 2026: “Construction In Progress”; two pedestrian bridges over Raccoon Creek, extending southeast from Hope-Moonville Road; winter 2025–26 to fall 2026 schedule. No completion confirmation.
  9. ODNR, Moonville Tunnel, read in Chrome October 20, 2026: Samuel Coe and the 1856 railway agreement, mining community, 1947 departure and surviving school foundation, cemetery and tunnel. Its undated access directions are not treated as a current road report.
  10. ODNR, Moonville Rail Trail at Ingham’s Station, November 5, 2024, read in Chrome: seven bridges installed across Hewett Fork and additional improvements continuing. This is a different project from ODOT PID 120373.

Photo and map credits