Abandoned Record
About Bessmay
Bessmay is an unincorporated community in eastern Jasper County, in the U.S. state of Texas. The community is on County Road 640, approximately one half mile east of U.S. Route 96.
This is a site record: what public sources say about Bessmay, gathered in one place. We haven't written a full guide yet, so history, current access and photos are still to come. Treat the status as unknown until a guide confirms it.
Map
Where Bessmay is
Historic maps
5 historic USGS maps cover Bessmay
Topographic sheets from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain), oldest first. Older sheets often show the camp, mines and roads while the place was alive. The downloads are large map scans; USGS topoView shows them in the browser.
- 1952 Lake Charles sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1954 Lake Charles sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1955 Bessmay sheet, 1:62,500 · GeoTIFF download
- 1984 Buna sheet, 1:24,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1986 Lake Charles sheet, 1:100,000 · GeoTIFF download
Directions
Getting there
Before you go
- Many ghost town sites are on private land, active mining claims or tribal land. Check land status and ask permission.
- Roads to old townsites are often unmaintained dirt. Map apps may route over closed or impassable tracks.
- Removing artifacts from public land is illegal under federal and most state laws.
Nearby
Other sites near Bessmay
Straight-line distance to other mapped sites in our Texas index.
Sources
Sources
- ghosttowns.com, "Bessmay": county, roads, climate, best time to visit, remains.
- Wikipedia, "Bessmay, Texas": coordinates and summary.
- Wikidata Q21196362.
- USGS GNIS 1330468.
- USGS 3D Elevation Program, elevation at the coordinates.
- USGS The National Map and Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain).