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State hub · Rhode Island
Rhode Island has very few ghost towns, and it is easy to see why. It is the smallest state and the second most densely populated, and its population has grown in every census since 1790, so places tended to fill in rather than empty out. Slatersville, one of the mill villages that followed Samuel Slater's mill in Pawtucket (1793), is still lived in: its mills became apartments in 2007.
The biggest losses were deliberate. In 1915 the state let Providence take 14,800 acres of Scituate for a reservoir. Kent, Ashland, South Scituate, Richmond and part of North Scituate went under the water or were cleared, with 1,195 buildings condemned, among them 375 houses and 6 mills. The Scituate Heritage Trail counts Rockland and Ponaganset among the lost villages too. Nothing stands, and the land is closed to the public.
The rest of Rhode Island's ghost-town label comes from Wikipedia's short list and from our index, which has three entries. Two are real ruins in the woods: the cellar holes of Hanton City in Smithfield and the foundations of the Ramtail woolen mill in Foster. The third, Napatree Point in Westerly, was never a town. It was an army fort, torn down in 1928, and a row of summer houses that the 1938 hurricane destroyed, and today it is a nature preserve. The cards below say what each place is and whether you can go.
Where to start
Open attractions, living towns and true ruins, with their current status.
Washington County
Not a town. Fort Mansfield, an army post from 1901 to 1909, was torn down in 1928 except its concrete gun emplacements, and the Hurricane of 1938 swept away every house on Fort Road, killing 15 of the 42 people in them. Now a free conservation area at Watch Hill, open around the clock (checked October 2026).
Providence County
A real ghost town: a farming and quarrying settlement in the woods of northwest Smithfield, with cellar holes, wells, stone walls and three graveyards. Historic Smithfield's history, updated June 2026, places it north of Route 7 and west of Route 116, behind an industrial park. The Smithfield Land Trust lists a Hanton City property in its 2024 and 2026 agendas, but we found no public access rules for it, so ask before you go. The map point marks the old Lydia Ann Road path near Routes 7 and 116 and is approximate.
Providence County
Ruins of the Foster Woolen Manufactory on the Ponaganset River, where watchman Peleg Walker was found hanged in 1822. It reportedly burned in 1873, yet the 1885 state census listed it as haunted. A Providence Journal story of October 19, 2026 says only foundations are left. The map point is Hopkins Mills Cemetery, where the walk in starts, so it is approximate. Providence Water land begins at its edge, and a 2012 geocache page put the mill on that land and said permission was needed.
Providence County
Mill and farm village in Scituate, cleared for the Gainer Dam, begun in 1920. The reservoir began filling in 1925. A Town of Scituate marker on Route 14, photographed September 19, 2026, says no buildings from the lost villages survive and asks visitors to keep off the restricted watershed land.
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 Rhode Island index, with its county. A ◦ marks sites already on the map.
No sites match. Try fewer letters or another county.
Plan a trip
Providence Water owns about 13,000 acres of Scituate alone, and it says the lands around the Scituate Reservoir are closed to unauthorized access. The Town of Scituate's marker on the lost villages asks visitors to keep off restricted land. The utility runs free public field tours in different seasons; check its Public Field Tours page. The lost villages are best seen through the Scituate Heritage Trail markers: sign 13 on Plainfield Pike (Route 14), and sign 12 where Routes 14 and 102 meet Rockland Road.
Napatree Point Conservation Area is free and open 24 hours, but it has no parking lot and no restrooms; the few spaces in Watch Hill village fill fast in midsummer. Dogs must be leashed and are banned from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from May 2 through Labor Day (checked October 2026). Camping, fires, grills, drones, vehicles (bicycles included) and fireworks are banned at all times, and marked bird nesting areas are off limits to people and dogs.
Hanton City and the Ramtail ruins are foundations, cellar holes and stone walls under second-growth forest. Wikipedia notes that Hanton City is nearly impossible to find when the vegetation is up, and one hiker needed two tries, so late fall to early spring is the time to look. Settle access first, because we could not confirm that either site is open to the public. The Smithfield Land Trust lists a Hanton City property, but we found no access rules for it. The Ramtail walk starts at Hopkins Mills Cemetery on the edge of Providence Water land, and a 2012 geocache page said the mill site needed the utility's permission. Ask the land trust or Providence Water before you go, and turn back at any posting.
Hanton City has three old graveyards, and the Ramtail walk starts in Hopkins Mills Cemetery. Under the Antiquities Act of Rhode Island (General Laws chapter 42-45.1), objects from state-owned sites stay state property, and the state's historical preservation commission runs its archaeology program and can issue permits for field investigations. Whoever owns the land, do not dig, metal-detect or carry anything off.
FAQ
Very few. Wikipedia's list, in its version of October 25, 2026, names 13 places, and most are villages that vanished: six are tied to the Scituate and Barden reservoirs. Our index lists three sites: Hanton City, Napatree Point and the Ramtail Factory.
Not really. It was never a town. It had Fort Mansfield, an army post dropped from the active list by 1909, and a row of summer houses on Fort Road that the Hurricane of 1938 destroyed. Wikipedia's list cites a 1938 pictorial of the hurricane damage at Watch Hill. The gun emplacements are still there, inside a nature preserve.
No. The villages were cleared or flooded in the 1920s, nothing stands, and Providence Water's land is closed to the public except on its own tours. You can read the history on the Scituate Heritage Trail markers along Route 14.
That is legend. The 1885 Rhode Island census listed "Ram Tail Factory, (haunted)", and stories tie the haunting to watchman Peleg Walker, found hanged from the mill's bell rope in 1822. What is real is the ruin: foundations and walls by the Ponaganset River in Foster.
Elmdale, Sowams, Wallum Lake and Wayland are on Wikipedia's list too, but we could not find a reliable location, date or account of what is left for them, so they have no card here.
Abandoned