List of ghost towns in Massachusetts facts for kids

An example of a "Babson Boulder" at Dogtown, Massachusetts.

Imagine a town where everyone packed up and left, leaving behind empty buildings and quiet streets. That's a ghost town! These are places in Massachusetts that were once busy and full of life, but now they are mostly abandoned or completely gone.

Some ghost towns might have a few old buildings still standing, like a forgotten church or a crumbling house. Others might have disappeared completely, turning back into forests or fields. Sometimes, a town might still have a few people living there, but it's much smaller than it used to be.

Why do towns become ghost towns? It can happen for many reasons. Maybe the main industry, like a factory or a mine, closed down. Perhaps a new road was built that bypassed the town, or a natural disaster forced people to leave. Sometimes, towns are even flooded on purpose to create a reservoir, like the ones that formed the Quabbin Reservoir.

Exploring Massachusetts' Ghost Towns

A lighthouse and part of a Civil War artillery battery are all that remain at Long Point.

Massachusetts has many fascinating ghost towns, each with its own unique story. Here's a look at some of them, grouped by county:

Barnstable County

• Long Point: This town, also known as Provincetown, was built on a very narrow piece of land at the end of Cape Cod. It was hard to get fresh water there, and big ocean storms were a constant threat. Because of these challenges, people eventually moved away.
• Whitewash Village

Berkshire County

• Questing

Bristol County

• Norton Furnace

Essex County

• Dogtown: This historic settlement was once a thriving community. Over time, as farming became harder and people moved to bigger towns for work, Dogtown slowly emptied out. Today, you can still find old cellar holes and giant boulders with strange carvings, known as "Babson Boulders."

Franklin County

• Catamount
• Davis
• Hillsboro

Hampshire County

These towns were submerged to create the Quabbin Reservoir, a huge source of drinking water for Boston and other cities.

• Enfield
• Greenwich
• Prescott

Middlesex County

• Haywardville: This was a mill town that started in the mid-1800s. By 1870, it was already shrinking. In 1894, the area became a park called Middlesex Fells Reservation, and the old town disappeared into nature.

Worcester County

• Dana: Like some towns in Hampshire County, Dana was also submerged to form the Quabbin Reservoir.