List of ghost towns in Maryland Facts for Kids

Pentecostal Holiness Church ruins in Daniels

The following is an incomplete list of ghost towns in Maryland. Ghost towns can include sites in various states of disrepair and abandonment. Some sites no longer have any trace of civilization and have reverted to pasture land or empty fields. Other sites are unpopulated but still have standing buildings. Some sites may even have a sizable, though small population, but there are far fewer citizens than in its grander historic past.

Many ghost towns can be located in the Appalachian counties, particularly Garrett County. During the 18th and 19th century, a number of "boom towns" were formed to participate in the flourishing coal, railroad, and iron industries. Towards the late 19th century, the resources in the region had begun to deplete, and the onset of the Great Depression finally killed many of the industrial towns.

Classification

Foundation of a hotel in Lapidum

Barren site

Sites no longer in existence
Sites that have been destroyed
Covered with water
Reverted to pasture
May have a few difficult to find foundations/footings at most

Ruins of a church in Daniels

Neglected site

- Only rubble left
- All buildings uninhabited
- Roofless building ruins
- Some buildings or houses still standing, but majority are roofless

Abandoned site

Building or houses still standing
Buildings and houses all abandoned
No population, except caretaker
Site no longer in existence except for one or two buildings, for example old church, grocery store

Semi abandoned site

Building or houses still standing
Buildings and houses largely abandoned
few residents
many abandoned buildings
Small population

Marion Station has declined sharply since the 1950s

Historic community

Building or houses still standing
Still a busy community
Smaller than its boom years
Population has decreased dramatically, to one fifth or less.

List by County

Baltimore City

Old Town Mall, a largely abandoned commercial district in the center of Baltimore.
Wagner's Point, an industrial area of Baltimore which had all residents forcibly relocated in the late 1990s for environmental concerns.

Baltimore County

Daniels (Partially in Howard County), an old milling town on the Patapsco River.
Relay, formerly a booming railroad town which declined sharply and today contains only a handful of residents and none of its historic landmarks.
Warren, which was flooded during the creation of Loch Raven Reservoir

Calvert County

Calverton, the first county seat of Calvert County, which is today a barren site.
Wilson, which appeared on maps as late as 1901.

Cecil County

Conowingo. The original town was flooded by the creation of Conowingo Reservoir, and the residents relocated to a location nearby.
Frenchtown, formerly a hub for steam boat travel, which was rendered obsolete by the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and then later by railroads.
United States Naval Training Center Bainbridge, a naval recruit training center that was operational from 1942 to 1976.

Charles County

Port Tobacco Village, once the second largest town in Maryland, by 2010 it had declined to the smallest incorporated town in Maryland.

Frederick County

Harmony Grove, a former milling town which was abandoned in the early 20th century and widely demolished in the 1960s-1970s for a highway expansion.
Monocacy. Considered to be the oldest settlement in Western Maryland, the site of Monocacy was lost completely after being abandoned in the early 19th century, and has never been found despite a multitude of historical evidence it existed.

Garrett County

Altamont
Bloomington
Blooming Rose, first settled in 1791.
Davis
Dodson
Floyd
Frankville, notable for the 1876 death of Francis Thomas.
Gleason
Gorman
Kempton, a coal town on the border of West Virginia.
Kendall, an old logging town.
Schell (partially in Mineral County, West Virginia)
Selbysport
Shallmar
Skipnish
Thomas
Vindex
Wallman
Wilson (partially in Grant County, West Virginia)

Harford County

Lapidum

Howard County

Daniels (Partially in Baltimore County)

Prince George's County

Good Luck

Queen Anne's County

Broad Creek

Somerset County

Marion Station
Tulls Corner, a nearly extinct community near Marion Station.

St. Mary's County

St. Mary's City, a former colonial town that has been replaces by a state-run historic area and St. Mary's College of Maryland.

Washington County

Fort Ritchie, a former military base which closed in 1998. The last residents were evicted in 2017.
Four Locks, found in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.
Weverton. Although there is a current Weverton, it's not located on the original site.

Worcester County

Sinepuxent

List of ghost towns in Maryland facts for kids

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