Road-trip index
Ghost Towns near Columbus
The survey records 1,037 vanished or historical sites within 100 miles of Columbus, OH. Here's what's closest — and which places have full records worth planning a day around.
Charted towns within range
Vanished Place
A rough Ohio coal town that voted itself out of existence in 1931.
Vanished Place
Ohio's most haunted-storied tunnel is all that's left of a coal hamlet.
Verified Ghost Town
A coal town in two halves, joined by 821 steps down the gorge.
Historic Townsite
The most complete coal works in West Virginia — once owned by Henry Ford.
Near-Abandoned
A railroad town in the New River Gorge where the main street is the tracks.
Vanished Place
Fifteen thousand people in six months — then an empty field of mowed streets.
Closest surveyed sites — records pending
Every one of these is on the national atlas map — zoom into the Columbus area to see them in place.