Can you visit St. Thomas, Nevada now?

Yes. The townsite has been above Lake Mead's waterline since the early-2000s drought and is open to walk via a 2.5-mile loop trail inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Why was St. Thomas abandoned?

Hoover Dam's reservoir flooded the town. The federal government bought out residents as Lake Mead rose; the last resident rowed away from his home in June 1938.

Will St. Thomas go back underwater?

Only if Lake Mead rises roughly a hundred feet from recent levels — possible in a string of exceptionally wet years, but the townsite has stayed exposed for over two decades.

St. Thomas, NV Ghost Town — History, Map & What Remains

The story

St. Thomas was settled by Mormon farmers in 1865 where the Muddy River meets the Virgin. The first settlers left in 1871 in a tax revolt — a new survey showed they were in Nevada, not Utah or Arizona, and when Nevada demanded years of back taxes, many burned their own homes and moved rather than pay. The town was resettled and spent decades as a quiet farming stop on the road to Salt Lake.

Hoover Dam ended it. As Lake Mead rose through the 1930s the government bought out the town, and residents watched the water climb their streets for years. Hugh Lord, the last man in St. Thomas, rowed away from his house on June 11, 1938, as the lake reached his door.

Then the story reversed. Two decades of drought have dropped Lake Mead so far that St. Thomas has been continuously above water since the early 2000s — foundations, cisterns, the school steps, and rows of stumps where cottonwoods lined the streets, all crusted white with lake sediment. It is the rare ghost town that is also a climate gauge.

What remains today

Concrete foundations of the school, garage, and ice-cream parlor, cisterns, building pads laid out along recognizable streets, and interpretive signs — all inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Questions from the field

Can you visit St. Thomas, Nevada now?: Yes. The townsite has been above Lake Mead's waterline since the early-2000s drought and is open to walk via a 2.5-mile loop trail inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
Why was St. Thomas abandoned?: Hoover Dam's reservoir flooded the town. The federal government bought out residents as Lake Mead rose; the last resident rowed away from his home in June 1938.
Will St. Thomas go back underwater?: Only if Lake Mead rises roughly a hundred feet from recent levels — possible in a string of exceptionally wet years, but the townsite has stayed exposed for over two decades.

From the field

The most valuable part of this record is the part only visitors can write.

Stamp your passport

Check in at St. Thomas — GPS-verified visits earn an inked stamp.

File a field report

Road conditions, what's still standing, what's gone — your report joins the record.

Add photographs

Credited, dated, and preserved as part of St. Thomas's permanent record.

Reports and photos are reviewed before joining the record.

No field reports yet — sign in to file the first.

Sources consulted

— USGS GNIS feature 849511
— National Park Service — Lake Mead NRA, St. Thomas townsite
— U.S. Bureau of Reclamation — Hoover Dam / Boulder Canyon Project records