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 · Virginia
Virginia's ghost towns are old and small. Several were chartered river or canal towns that lost their trade: Matildaville, headquarters of the Patowmack Company from 1785 to 1799 at Great Falls, and Ca Ira, set up by the General Assembly in 1796 on the Willis River, which had 310 people in 1836 and was mostly deserted by 1900. Others were company towns: Lignite, a mining town of the Allegheny Ore and Iron Company in Botetourt County, and Hickory Ridge, home to workers at the Cabin Branch pyrite mine from 1889 until it closed in 1920.
In the 20th century the government and the water companies emptied more. Federal agencies bought out Hickory Ridge in the 1930s for what became Prince William Forest Park, and the Navy took Magruder and Bigler's Mill in 1942 and 1943 for Camp Peary, still closed today. Roanoke cleared Carvins Cove for a reservoir full by 1946. On the coast, storms and the end of market hunting emptied Wash Woods by the 1930s.
What survives is mostly ruins: foundations, a church, a cemetery. Most of the featured sites are on public land.
Where to start
Open attractions, living towns and true ruins, with their current status.
Fairfax County
Company town of the Patowmack Company, chartered in 1790 beside the canal around Great Falls; the company merged into the C&O Canal Company in 1828 and the last building, Dickey's Tavern, burned in 1950. The park says only a few fragile remains are visible, among them the stone ruins of the superintendent's house, in Great Falls Park ($20 per car, fees page August 2025).
Prince William County
Mining community of about 171 homes that grew after the Cabin Branch pyrite mine opened in 1889; the mine closed in 1920. The government bought and condemned the land from 1933 for a recreation area that became Prince William Forest Park. Mine foundations remain in the park, which listed its entrance fees on a page updated May 5, 2026.
Virginia Beach County
Fishing, hunting and life-saving settlement of about 300 people near the North Carolina line; floods, the end of market hunting and the 1933 hurricanes emptied it. In False Cape State Park, the Methodist church steeple stands inside a glass-walled shelter beside its cemetery, a half-mile walk, WHRO reported on October 10, 2023. No vehicles: the park is reached on foot, by bike or boat, or on its reserved tram tour (Virginia DCR, October 2026).
Botetourt County
Mill community of the early 1800s with a school, church, resort hotel and at least 60 homes, cleared for Roanoke's reservoir; the last buildings were auctioned in 1944. Stone foundations show in Carvins Cove Natural Reserve and reappear in droughts. Cardinal News reported on September 30, 2026 that the reservoir was nearly 21 feet below full, its lowest since 2002; the article does not mention the foundations.
Cumberland County
Willis River town set up in 1796 and busy with tobacco after a canal opened in 1825; it had 310 people in 1836 and was mostly deserted by 1900. Grace Church, finished in 1843, and a few houses stand on Ca Ira Road (SR 632). We found no dated report on the church or access.
Botetourt County
Mining town of the Allegheny Ore and Iron Company, a Lukens Steel subsidiary from 1907, with a company store, churches, a school and a theater. The company left in the 1920s and the last residents about 1950, when the land went into the Jefferson National Forest. The Fincastle Herald wrote on January 23, 2018 that old roads off Lignite Road lead to the chimney remnants of the manager's house, building foundations and the line of the main street.
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 Virginia index, with its county. A ◦ marks sites already on the map.
No sites match. Try fewer letters or another county.
Plan a trip
Matildaville is in Great Falls Park and Hickory Ridge in Prince William Forest Park. Both charge $20 per private vehicle or $10 per person on foot or bicycle, good for seven days, and neither takes cash (fees pages updated August 18, 2025 and May 5, 2026). Great Falls Park's annual pass, $35, also covers the C&O Canal.
Wash Woods is in False Cape State Park in the far southeast corner of Virginia Beach. There is no vehicle access: you come through Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge on foot or by bike, by paddle craft, or on the park's tram tour, which needs a reservation. From November 1 through March 31 the refuge's interior trails close and the way in is along the beach or by boat; pets may not pass through the refuge, and everyone must be out by dusk (Virginia DCR, October 2026). The church site is a half-mile walk on dirt and loose sand. Bring water, sunscreen and insect repellent.
Magruder and Bigler's Mill lie inside Camp Peary, a restricted federal base near Williamsburg that the Navy closed to the public in 1951. Elko Tract in Henrico County, a wartime decoy airfield, is now industrial land. Ca Ira's church and houses stand beside a public road; we found nothing on access, so treat them as private. Stay on public land and roads.
The Virginia Antiquities Act makes it unlawful to dig for, remove or disturb objects of antiquity on land owned or managed by the state, including state parks such as False Cape, without a permit from the Department of Historic Resources; anything recovered belongs to the state. In Great Falls Park, Prince William Forest Park and Jefferson National Forest, the federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act applies.
FAQ
We found no official count. Our index lists 21 sites in Virginia, 18 of them with coordinates. Many are places absorbed by parks, bases, reservoirs or the growth of Richmond rather than towns with standing ruins.
Matildaville, in Great Falls Park outside Washington, is the easiest: the stone ruins of the Patowmack Company's town lie along the old Patowmack Canal by the falls of the Potomac. Hickory Ridge's mine foundations are in Prince William Forest Park, about 52 minutes by road from Washington.
Yes, but not by car. It is in False Cape State Park, reached through Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge on foot, by bike or boat, or on the park's reserved tram tour (Virginia DCR, October 2026). WHRO reported in October 2023 that the church steeple stands in a glass-walled shelter and most cemetery headstones are legible, a half-mile walk on a narrow, sandy path.
A community named for the settler William Carvin, with a mill, a school, a Baptist church, a resort hotel, an amusement park and at least 60 homes. Roanoke bought the land and auctioned the last buildings in 1944; the reservoir was full by May 1946. Foundations show in the natural reserve and when the water is low.
Abandoned