New Burlington

Overview

A village bought out for a lake

New Burlington grew where Anderson Fork runs into Caesar Creek, in the far northwest corner of Clinton County. The first settler, Aaron Jenkins, came from Tennessee in 1799. The village was laid out in 1833 and named for Burlington, North Carolina, where several of the founding families had lived. A post office opened in 1837, and Wikipedia, citing the 1915 county history, says the village was a station on the Underground Railroad.

At its height, around 1880, about 400 people lived here. There were general stores, a tannery, a blacksmith, saw and planing mills, a school and two doctors, and from 1878 a station on the narrow Columbus, Washington and Cincinnati Railroad, the "Grasshopper." The trains stopped in 1933, and New Burlington settled into life as a small farm village.

Congress had authorized a flood-control lake on Caesar Creek in 1938. Construction began in 1971, the year the post office closed, and the federal government bought out the village. Lawrence and Ethel Mitchner were the last to keep their land. John Baskin lived among the last residents and in 1976 published New Burlington: The Life and Death of an American Village. The dam was finished in 1978. Wikipedia's park article says the lake flooded the village, but the old maps and the explorers' report put the old center just above the lake's upper end, in the woods of the state park. The village's name lives on in the houses along SR 380 to the south.

Timeline

Settlers, the Grasshopper and the dam

1. 1799Aaron Jenkins, from Tennessee, settles here, by the Ohio Ghost Town Exploration Co.'s account. He gives land for the cemetery and is the first person buried in it.
2. 1833The village is laid out and named for Burlington, North Carolina, home of some of the first settlers. The explorers' page dates the town from 1803.
3. 1837The post office opens.
4. 1878A station opens on the Columbus, Washington and Cincinnati Railroad, the "Grasshopper."
5. About 1880Population peaks at about 400. The village has grocery and general stores, a shoe shop, a tailor, a tannery, a blacksmith, saw and planing mills, a school and two doctors.
6. 1933The railroad station closes.
7. 1971The post office closes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers starts building Caesar Creek Dam the same year.
8. 1976John Baskin publishes New Burlington: The Life and Death of an American Village, built from the residents' stories, letters and journals.
9. 1978The dam is finished and Caesar Creek State Park opens. Wikipedia's park article says the lake flooded the village that year.

What's left

What you'll see

The Ohio Ghost Town Exploration Co. found the old main street as a gravel road just north of the junction of SR 380 and Roxanna-New Burlington Road. The gravel turns to concrete and leads to the old main street bridge, with room to park on the far side. Foundations are barely visible in the woods. A small set of concrete steps, about 10 feet off the right side of the old street, stands across from where the last grocery store was. Their page gives no date for the visit. New Burlington Cemetery, where the Mitchners are buried, is the other reminder; their headstone was photographed there in July 2013. A wooden roadside sign on SR 380, photographed the same month, reads "Site of New Burlington 1803 - 1971."

The maps show the change. The 1917 Xenia sheet prints New Burlington at the county line where Caesar Creek and Anderson Fork meet, with houses along the road on both sides of the stream. The 1955 New Burlington sheet shows the village packed along the old road north of the creek, more houses strung south along SR 380, and New Burlington Cemetery to the east. On the 1968 revision the new line of SR 380 is printed in purple, bypassing the old street. By 1986 the land is marked as state park, with the lake's upper end to the southwest.

• Old main street, gravel and concrete, and its bridge
• Faint foundations in the woods
• Concrete steps across from the last grocery store site
• New Burlington Cemetery

Historic maps

New Burlington on USGS maps, 1917–1986

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.

19171:62,50019551:24,00019681:24,00019861:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Xenia is the closest town with services. SR 380 runs south from Xenia straight to the townsite. From Dayton, take US 35 east and US 42 south, then Krepps Road over to SR 380.

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

Photos

New Burlington in photos

The "Site of New Burlington 1803 - 1971" sign beside SR 380, July 2013Lawrence and Ethel Mitchner's headstone, New Burlington Cemetery, July 2013

Visitor reports

Been to New Burlington?

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 New Burlington

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

• Manor9.6 mi W · Montgomery
• Venable9.9 mi W · Warren
• Alexandersville16.6 mi NW · Montgomery
• Sabina18.3 mi E · Clinton
• Beedles Station18.8 mi SW · Warren
• Allentown19.5 mi N · Clark
• Blueball20.3 mi W · Butler
• Fishburg21.4 mi NW · Montgomery

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "New Burlington, Clinton County, Ohio", retrieved October 2026: Chester Township, the 1833 layout and name, post office 1837 to 1971, the Underground Railroad claim (citing the 1915 History of Clinton County), the federal purchase, Baskin's book, the Mitchner grave, coordinates.
2. Ohio Ghost Town Exploration Co., "Clinton County" (undated), read October 2026: Aaron Jenkins, peak of about 400, the railroad station 1878 to 1933, businesses, the Mitchners, the old main street, foundations, steps and bridge.
3. Wikipedia, "Caesar Creek State Park", retrieved October 2026: the 1938 authorization, dam construction 1971 to 1978, the Army Corps of Engineers, the state lease, the 1978 flooding claim.
4. Wikimedia Commons, "NewBurlington1.JPG" and "NewBurlington2.JPG", photos of July 13, 2013: the roadside sign on SR 380 and the Mitchner headstone.
5. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The "Site of New Burlington 1803 - 1971" sign beside SR 380, July 2013: Aesopposea, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• Lawrence and Ethel Mitchner's headstone, New Burlington Cemetery, July 2013: Aesopposea, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Xenia 1917, 1:62,500; New Burlington 1955, 1:24,000; New Burlington 1968, 1:24,000; Springfield 1986, 1:100,000.