23 Ghost Towns in FLORIDA (Abandoned, Scary & Spooky)
Over the course of time and history, there have been numerous pioneers, settlers, and voyagers who have come upon lands hitherto unoccupied and, for one reason or the other, decided to settle there.
Most times, such lands are always fertile, and farming is the reason they stay, while other times, especially during wars, the land is strategically positioned to give them an upper hand peradventure they have to fight.
However, some of these settlements and towns would not, like others, take off, flourish, thrive, and become big old historic towns; they rather decline and eventually become abandoned; they become ghost towns.
In this article, you will be presented with some of the ghost towns in Florida.
And by the way, you may also want to check out the Abandoned Places in Florida.
Ghost Towns in Lake County, Florida
1. Conant
The town of Conant in Lake County was established in 1884 by affluent English immigrants who were so kind to name it after Major Sherman Conant, a financier of the Florida Southern Railway.
There was a three-story hotel in the town, as far back as 1884, with pictorial evidence, and it was situated close to where ‘The Villages’ is in the present day.
While outsiders regarded the people of Conant as snobbish and perceived themselves as people above hard labor, the residents were actually a hard-working lot.
However, the Big Freeze of 1894–1895 severely affected this citrus-growing region, bringing its population down to a hundred.
The final nail in the coffin was when mail delivery was shifted south to Lady Lake in 1919, and the town vanished.
A decade later, Conant Road, which had been renamed Griffin Road in the 1950s, and a railroad sign were the only things bearing the name Conant left.
Address: Lake County, FL 34713, US
2. St. Francis/Old Town
St. Francis, which was formerly known as Old Town and was nestled on a tall shell cliff, was built to be of service to the steamboat traffic on the St. Johns River.
On March 15, 1888, the town, which had its beginnings in the early 1880s, eventually got a post office, and this further cemented its township status.
However, by the time the railroad from Jacksonville reached the area in 1886, it diverted traffic and business away from steamboats and caused a downturn in the town’s economy.
Interestingly, this did not mark the end of the town because about four years later, in 1890, the Florida Facts newspaper started running there.
On October 15, 1909, the same day the St. Francis Hotel burned down, the post office was closed; this was the beginning of the end.
The townsite is now a part of the Ocala National Forest and is situated in Lake County to the north of Crow’s Bluff.
Address: Lake County, FL 34713, US
3. Eldorado
The name of the town, Eldorado, was derived from the golden color of the citrus tree fruit in the area.
In 1888, a traveler may ride the railroad passing through the town to Fort Mason and Leesburg for around 15 cents.
However, families that gave land for the railroad’s right-of-way were exempt from paying this 15 cents ticket fare.
By 1895, a Railway Company based in Florida train passed through Eldorado at Lake Harris in modern-day Lake County, Florida.
Also, another thing that brought traffic to the town was the steamboat that connected Eldorado and Astor, from which a traveler could join a train to other towns.
The last significant piece of information on the ghost town of Eldorado was the close of its post office, which was situated some five miles from Leesburg and had functioned from 1886 to 1910.
Address: Lake County, FL 34713, US
4. Pittman
In 1883, George Pittman relocated from Kentucky to what is now Lake County and founded a community, which was called Pittman, close to Dorr, which is quite close to Altoona.
There was a Presbyterian church, a bank operated by Pittman, Thomas, Robinson, and Company in the town, as well as the town’s first-ever store and hotel, which were owned by Murray Thomas.
Pittman was situated along the popular Railway train, which stops in the south at Sellers, Umatilla, Glendale, Fort Mason, and Altoona; then Summit, Astor ,Ravenswood, and Bryantsville in the north.
The local citrus crop was destroyed by the Freeze that happened in 1894–1895, and this resulted in a lot of people leaving, abandoning the town, and relocating elsewhere.
Currently, there are farms at the townsite, which is close to Lake Dorr Road.
Address: Lake County, FL 34713, US
5. Mohawk
One of the most common pictures online about Mohawk is that of the Mohawk family home, first owned by Charles and Minnie Hart Stokes, who had moved to Florida from Lee Center, New York.
The Stokes were not the first people to settle in Mohawk because Mr. Palmer, who had moved there in 1882, was the one that sold the family the land.
However, it is convenient to suggest that the Stokes family was as significant as the original settlers considering that Mohawk’s post office was housed in the Stokes home’s living room.
Charles Stokes added on to his property (the house) about ten years later and built Jolly Palms, a hunting and fishing lodge that later burned down in 1912.
Mohawk was situated close to Plum Lake, and currently, it is part of Minneola.
Address: Lake County, FL 34713, US
6. Kismet
Kismet is a ghost town in Lake County, Florida, which used to occupy an area that is currently part of the Ocala National Forest.
In 1884, the Kismet Land and Improvement Company established Kismet (kind of obvious where they got the name), and it flourished as a citrus community until 1889 when the freeze damaged the orange groves.
The town had a 50-room hotel, which was later demolished and rebuilt in Eustis, Florida, where it remained until 1955.
Kismet is now entirely gone and is now mostly referred to as the location of Elias Disney and Flora Disney’s wedding; these were Walt Disney’s parents.
Tourists often visit the attraction site that is birthed from this information, which is Walt Disney’s grandparents’ gravestone, in Paisley village.
Address: Lake County, FL 34713, US
7. Acron
The ghost town, Acron, which is frequently spelled ‘Akron,’ was once situated close to Paisley in the Ocala National Forest region.
In its early days, Acron’s population increased from 30 at first to about 300 in a short time.
By 1875, the first school was founded, and Sara Campbell became the very first teacher in the school, with Flora Call (Walt Disney’s mother) being the second.
When the post office in the town was established in 1877, John C. Campbell served as the pioneer postmaster.
There was an iconic two-story wooden building, which housed the school, and a church and also hosted local Masonic meetings,
This was not the only building that served multiple purposes; the Campbell’s residence also served as the post office, all the while serving as the community hotel as well.
In 1910, the old Campbell house was demolished, and the town has since vanished.
Address: Lake County, FL 34713, US
Also see our article on Small Towns in Florida.
Ghost Towns in Sumter County, Florida
1. Bamboo
Bamboo is a ghost town that used to be located in present-day Sumter County in Florida, United States.
The town was founded in 1883 by B. E. Chapman of South Carolina and took off, or at least did as new settlements go.
By 1884, Bamboo got its own post office, which ran until half a decade later when the post office was moved to Orange Home in 1890.
However, Bamboo’s population fell to 30 after the Big Freeze of 1894–1895, which marked the end of some other new towns then.
Interestingly, Bamboo was still going and did not become a ghost town until its post office and sawmill closed.
The said sawmill – Goethe sawmill – was situated nearby the intersection of what is now SR 44 and CR 468.
Address: Sumter County, FL 33521, US
2. Mabel
This small town, Mabel, was named after Mabel Phelps Page, who was the daughter of postmaster J. P. Phelps.
Mabel got its own post office in 1894, and it served the people of Mabel and their surroundings for decades until it was closed in 1918, and its service was transferred to Linden.
Despite the Mable town being right along a major route, there are currently only a few rural residences and little economic activity.
Additionally, Mabel is crossed by two abandoned railroad lines, one of which was the Orange Belt Railway line, which runs from Sylvan Lake in Seminole County to Trilby in Pasco County.
The other was a segment of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad that runs through Polk County from Coleman to Auburndale.
Address: Sumter County, FL 33597, US
3. Alto
Alto was a small settlement that was formed in the late 1800s in the area that is now the Half Moon Wildlife Management Area.
After the Seminole Wars, numerous families from the Carolinas moved to the area, establishing homesteads, and this was how the town of Alto was birthed.
In addition to raising horses and cattle, the settlers also grew peas, peanuts, corn, sugarcane, oats, and sweet potatoes.
The McKinney cattle ranch was one of the first homesteads; it was inhabited from 1916 until about 1945 when the McKinney family sold it after the Second World War.
Later, the Carlton family acquired the land and also utilized the land for cattle ranching in the 1960s and 1970s until a hunt club leased it in the 1980s.
Address: Sumter County, FL 33521, US
Also see our article on Haunted Houses in Florida.
Ghost Towns in Glades County, Florida
1. Tasmania
Before the town was called Tasmania, it used to be Fisheating Creek; however, with the change in name for the former village, the town of Tasmania was created in 1916.
The town had two schools and a trading center, more like a market, where locals could exchange turpentine, cattle, and moonshine, and the residents did go frequently.
But good things, some say, do not last forever, and in this case, when the Great Depression hit, Families had to relocate, and as a result, the post office and schools closed; this marked the end of Tasmania.
However, the Lucky Island Schoolhouse, which is now a barn in the middle of a cow pasture, is still visible from the road, but you cannot check it out because it is on private property.
Address: Glades County, FL 33471, US
2. Hall City
In the 1900s, a preacher who was originally from Chicago tried to build this town and named it Hall City, in an area that is currently in Glades County, Florida.
This preacher was not the first that took on such an endeavor; in fact, if you have been paying attention, you would know that many of the ghost towns that have been discussed were pioneered by someone or, in some cases, a group of people.
Unfortunately, the town never took off, even though there were about a hundred people, which is well more than some towns that started with as low as 30 people.
The primary reason for the epic failure was that there was never a real push for growth and development in the town and most of the basic things the residents needed were far away.
Hence, with no developments, no commerce, and no jobs, residents had no reason to stay in Hall City, so they relocated.
By the 1920s, the town was completely abandoned, never to rise again.
Address: Glades County, FL 33471, US
Also see our article on Escape Rooms in Florida.
Ghost Towns in Putnam County, Florida
1. Sisco
The ghost town called Sisco, which is entirely uninhabited, is situated in Putnam County, Florida, United States.
Henry W. and Claire Sisco founded Sisco in 1884 along the Jacksonville, Tampa, and Key West Railway, and you need not wander far to know where the name was gotten.
For the next 40 years or more, the town’s population fluctuated between 150 and 60, and it occasionally featured a post office, a steam sawmill, a general store, and sometimes, a hotel.
In the 1920s, there was a riverboat stop long Dunn’s Creek that served as a post office for nearby towns like Pomona and Cisco.
The stop was also a source of wood and water for citrus-laden ships that passed through or stopped there.
Now, the area Sisco used to occupy is part of Dunns Creek State Park.
Address: Putnam County, FL 32149, US
2. Rollestown
If a man named James established a town and named it Jamestown and another man named Davis called his Davistown, what other name would an Englishman that answers Deny Rolles call a town he established in 1767 if not Rollestown?
Rolles had come from London and came with indentured servants in an attempt to establish a farm in the area, but because none of them knew anything about farming, the farm failed.
The Englishman then brought in slaves to farm the fields and raise livestock after the failure, but the result was not so different.
However, after the British restored Florida to Spain in 1783, the plantation was eventually abandoned.
Rolles went back to England, and the slaves who had worked the estate moved to the Bahamas, and all that is now left of this ghost town is a historical marker.
Address: Putnam County, FL 32149, US
Also see our article on Bridges in Florida.
Ghost Towns in Hillsborough County, Florida
1. Hopewell
Hopewell, which was initially called Callsville in 1870, was an area popularly known for the Turner Plantation, where slaves used to work.
Early settlers in the area constructed the Hopewell Baptist Church, which was named after Hopewell, Alabama, in 1870.
However, the plantation was divided into several homesteads once the slaves were emancipated.
In 1883, with around 200 people living there, George W. Wells opened the Callsville post office on May 14.
Also, to transport logs and for other logistics purposes, the Warnell Lumber and Veneer Company built a railroad through Hopewell.
Some of the town’s residences are still in good condition for curious eyes, like Hopewell’s church, the McDonald House, and the Hull House, but most of them have been taken over by trees and vines and are too unsafe to examine.
Address: Hopewell, FL 33567, US
2. Fort Dade
The original settlement of Fort Dade was founded in 1898 and is situated on the island of Egmont Key in Tampa Bay; it was constructed in anticipation of the Spanish-American War.
When it was finished in 1906, the fort had all the usual amenities for its 300 occupants, including a hospital, a movie theater, brick roads, and tennis fields.
The troops lived there as it was a military outpost, but the fort itself was eventually deactivated in 1923.
If you want to experience a real ghost town, take a ferry to Fort Dade, where many of the fort’s damaged walls and a 19th-century lighthouse still survive.
You should know that this ghost town can only be reached by ferry, and there are mosquitoes there that are ever ready to dish out discomfort.
Address: Hillsborough County, FL 34217, US
Also see our article on Lakes in Florida.
Ghost Towns in Citrus County, Florida
1. Mannfield
The community of Mannfield, often known as Mansfield or Manfield, is situated in the Lecanto Sand Hill region of the Withlacoochee State Forest.
Mannfield, named after Austin Mann, was established in Hernando County in 1884, and when Citrus County split off in 1887 to become its own county, Mannfield became the county seat.
The town featured a variety of businesses one would have found in the period, including a sawmill that was pretty common for the area.
Citrus County physically relocated its seat and county buildings to Inverness in 1891, which was the beginning of the end for Mannfield.
In 1893, Citrus County acquired a railroad that ultimately bypassed Mannfield in favor of Inverness, and this was kind of the final straw.
Given its relative isolation and lack of a clear purpose, Mannfield’s population declined up until the 1930s when the federal government bought the land in pieces.
The land eventually became the Withlacoochee State Forest.
Address: Cross Seminole Trl, Lecanto, FL 34461, US
2. Orleans
In the late 1800s, Orleans, a little town with perhaps a population of 100 or so, was one of the numerous ghost towns that existed in Citrus County.
The town was founded in 1885, but it didn’t continue very long after that as a result of the great freezes of 1894–1895, which destroyed much of the crops, and caused the town to start its decline.
Influenza, which at the time was an epidemic in some other small towns like Orleans, might have been another reason for the collapse of the town.
The cemetery is one of the most significant areas of the town that is still standing, along with herty cup fragments that were left behind by the local turpentine industry.
There are also wells and large cisterns in the ground; they were used to collect and store water.
Address: Citrus County, FL 34447, US
Also see our article on Castles in Florida.
Ghost Towns in Palm Beach County, Florida
1. Zion
Unlike most of the other ghost towns on this list, there is actually very little record and history about Zion that is known or available.
No one can say the exact year Zion was established, formed, or settled in, but from the available fragments of information, you can take an educated guess.
For example, it is known that Zion had a small post office that was closed and discontinued in 1892.
This means that the town had been in existence before this time, and if the history of the other ghost towns is anything to go by, Zion must have been in existence at least a decade before 1892.
However, contrary to some of the other listings that declined and vanished right around the time their post office was closed, Zion was around for decades more.
The town had a house with several rooms where refugees stayed, this much is known, and the house did not burn down until 1927.
It was after this incident that many of the settlers disappeared, and it is safe to assume that this was the beginning of Zion’s decline.
Address: Palm Beach County, FL 33460, US
2. Bean City
If you go past the area that once was Bean City, you would only see a region that looks like empty land; never in your wildest dreams would you think it was once a prosperous and thriving farming community.
Bean City was not named so because it was founded by some fellow named Mr. Bean or some corporation with a similar name.
The name comes from the beans that were cultivated by the residents of this city, who were mainly farmers and workers.
However, like many other ghost towns that owe their decline and eventual disappearance to some natural occurrence like the great freeze of 1894-1895, Bean City has a hurricane that came in 1928 to thank.
Like many other farms in the past, the hurricane wiped out the plantation, and with nothing to do, the residents, farmers, and workers began to relocate in search of a greener, hurricane-free pasture.
Address: Palm Beach County, FL 33460, US
3. Yamato Colony
In what is now Boca Raton, Florida, the Yamato Colony used to exist as an attempt to establish a Japanese farming colony in the early 20th century.
Authorities in Florida got behind the idea and encouraged the recruitment of young Japanese males to work as farmers in the colony.
At the height, there were up to 75 Japanese men, some with families, and some businesses, as well as buildings, like a general shop, a few packing buildings, a group of two-story frame homes, etc., were there.
The colony failed for several reasons, including blight, but the ultimate reason was the farmers’ eviction during World War II.
George Morikami, the final colony member to stay close by, carried on farming in Delray Beach and eventually donated his land to be turned into a park in honor of the colony.
The history of the Yamato Colony is still being taught to the public at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens.
Address: Boca Raton, FL 33427, US
Also see our article on Playgrounds in Florida.
Ghost Towns in Marion County, Florida
1. Romeo
If the first thought that pops into your head when you see the name of this ghost town is ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ you are not wrong.
According to local stories, the town was named after two lovers, the boy from Romeo and the girl who lived in Juliette, another extinct town.
It is a little suspicious that this is too coincidental with the famed Shakespearean text, but no one is alive from the town to confirm or deny it, so you might as well go with it; a little love story never hurts anyone.
However lovely the story behind the name might be, the people of the town were not one to sit around enjoying Cupid’s stories; they were a farming community and were hard-working.
The town was built in the 1850s, and some decades later, in 1888, the town got a post office that was in operation until 1955
Unfortunately, many of the farmers mysteriously left the town, which led to the decline and eventual abandonment.
Address: Romeo, Florida 34432, US
2. Kerr City
In 1884, Kerr City – now a ghost town in Florida on Lake Kerr in what is now the Ocala National Forest – became the second settlement in Marion County.
Later, Kerr City possessed a post office, school, sawmill, church, a spectacular three-story hotel, general store, and other amenities.
Although it began as a cotton plantation during the Civil War, the town really took off when it began growing oranges and remained so until the great freezes of 1894 and 1895, when the town was abandoned.
While the post office remained open until 1941, the lovely Lake Kerr House hotel burned down in 1907.
Most of the residences were abandoned, but there are still a few structures in the Kerr City Historic District.
However, the district is closed to the public.
Address: Kerr City, FL 32134, US
If you liked this article, you may also like to read about the best Aquariums, planetariums, and Amusement Parks in Florida.
Looking beyond Florida? Check out our article on Ghost Towns in New York and Illinois.