Road-trip index
Ghost Towns near Atlanta
The survey records 1,494 vanished or historical sites within 100 miles of Atlanta, GA. Here's what's closest — and which places have full records worth planning a day around.
Charted towns within range
Near-Abandoned
Georgia's gold-rush boomtown — beaten by Dahlonega and then by California.
Vanished Place
Georgia's first paper mill — brick ruins in the forest telling an erosion parable.
Historic Townsite
Logging camp, then society resort, then the Smokies' famous firefly ghost town.
Vanished Place
A farm town under the widest part of Norris Lake — the 'Loyston Sea.'
Vanished Place
Alabama's first state capital, now empty streets you navigate by signpost.
Verified Ghost Town
A mountain hollow reachable only on foot — abandoned when the trains stopped.
Closest surveyed sites — records pending
Every one of these is on the national atlas map — zoom into the Atlanta area to see them in place.