State hubs
50 states have a hub with a map and every known site: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. The others are greyed out until their hub is ready. Every site in all 50 states still has its own page, and the search box finds them.
State hub · Vermont
Vermont's ghost towns are hill farms, logging camps and mill hamlets that the mountains and the markets wore down. Glastenbury and Somerset, high in the southern Green Mountains, were logging towns. Glastenbury also burned charcoal and had 241 people in 1880; Somerset had over 300 in 1850. Both lost their people as logging declined, and the legislature unincorporated them in 1937. The Somerset Reservoir now covers part of Somerset, and Glastenbury had 9 people at the 2020 census.
Others ended in fire and flood. Greenbanks Hollow in Danville lost its woolen mill, store, post office and covered bridge to a fire in 1885, and most of its people left. The farms, sawmills and schools of the Ricker Basin above Waterbury were bought up from the early 1920s; after the great flood of 1927 the Civilian Conservation Corps began the Waterbury Dam in 1934. Sterling, near Stowe, was dissolved in 1855 and its village abandoned by the mid-20th century; Wikipedia's list also names villages under the Harriman, Comerford and Moore reservoirs.
What survives is cellar holes, stone walls, cemeteries and a covered bridge, much of it on state park or national forest land with marked trails.
Where to start
Open attractions, living towns and true ruins, with their current status.
Washington County
Hill community of farms, sawmills, schools and taverns settled from 1790 and bought up from the 1920s for a hydroelectric dam; after the 1927 flood the Civilian Conservation Corps began the Waterbury Dam in 1934. Foundations, stone walls, farm sites and two cemeteries line the History Hike on the 3.5-mile Dalley Loop in Little River State Park, open from the third weekend in May to the third weekend in October. The pin is Wikipedia's point for the park.
Caledonia County
Mill village in southern Danville built around Benjamin Greenbank's woolen mill, which burned in 1885 with the store, post office and covered bridge; most people then left. The Danville Historical Society keeps the site as a public park with marked remains and nature trails, per a September 2022 report. The 1886 covered bridge still carries the road.
Bennington County
Logging and charcoal town with 241 people in 1880, a mountain railroad begun by 1872 and a short-lived 1898 resort; it was unincorporated in 1937 and had 9 people in 2020. Most of it is Green Mountain National Forest, crossed by the Long Trail. The fire tower on Glastenbury Mountain was closed to the public in 2022. The "Bennington Triangle" disappearances of 1945 to 1950 are folklore.
Windham County
Logging town on the Deerfield River with over 300 people in 1850, unincorporated in 1937, with 6 people at the 2020 census; the 1,623-acre Somerset Reservoir covers part of it. Great River Hydro's recreation area near the dam is open for day use, a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset, reached by Somerset Road (Forest Road 71) from VT 9.
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 Vermont index, with its county. A ◦ marks sites already on the map.
No sites match. Try fewer letters or another county.
Plan a trip
Little River State Park, where the Ricker Basin History Hike starts, is open from the third weekend in May to the third weekend in October; day-use fees apply. The western, unpaved part of Kelley Stand Road, near Glastenbury and Somerset, is not plowed or maintained in winter. Somerset's recreation area is day use only, from a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset.
Somerset Road (Forest Road 71) leaves VT 9 and follows the Deerfield River to the reservoir. In Little River State Park the Dalley Loop starts three-quarters of a mile north of the park office, past an iron gate; the Cut-Off Trail's crossing of Stevenson Brook can be dangerous in high water, and the park warns of logging trucks on one access road. Glastenbury is reached on foot, by the Long Trail and other trails through the Glastenbury Wilderness.
Most of Glastenbury is Green Mountain National Forest, including part of the 22,330-acre Glastenbury Wilderness, created in 2006. Its fire tower was closed to the public in 2022 after it was found structurally unsafe, and the first flight of stairs was removed; don't climb it. Carry a map: there are no services, and the Bennington Triangle stories are folklore, not a reason to leave the trail.
Vermont reserves to the State the exclusive right of field investigation on archaeological sites it owns or controls, and all objects from state lands remain state property (22 V.S.A. section 762); that covers Little River State Park. On national forest land, the federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act forbids excavating or removing archaeological resources without a permit.
FAQ
We found no official count. Wikipedia's list, which calls itself incomplete, named 23 places in its October 25, 2026 version, several of them uninhabited gores and grants or towns merged into others. Our index lists 7 sites in Vermont, 3 of them with coordinates.
The Ricker Basin in Little River State Park near Waterbury. The History Hike follows old town roads past foundations, stone walls, cemeteries and farm sites with interpretive signs, and the park publishes a trail guide. It is open from the third weekend in May to the third weekend in October.
It is a real town that nearly emptied. Glastenbury had 241 people in 1880 and 7 when the legislature unincorporated it in 1937; 9 lived there at the 2020 census. A state-appointed supervisor runs its affairs. The Bennington Triangle disappearances linked to it are folklore popularized by the writer Joseph Citro.
Only in part. Somerset, a logging town in Windham County, was unincorporated in 1937. Wikipedia's list calls it mostly submerged, but census figures in its own article put about 2 of its 28 square miles under water. The 1,623-acre reservoir, which reaches into Stratton too, is run by Great River Hydro. Six people lived in Somerset at the 2020 census.
Abandoned