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Here’s a look at some of North Carolina’s ghost towns.

A ghost town is usually defined as a deserted town with few or no remaining inhabitants.

Many times, a ghost town will still have visible remains from when people lived there.

Have you been to any of these?

Brunswick Town

Brunswick Town is a colonial ghost town beside the Cape Fear River in Smithville Township, Brunswick County. Brunswick Town lasted 50 years in the 1700s until it was destroyed by the British Army during the American Revolutionary War. It was never rebuilt. Read more about it here.

Buffalo City

Roger Moore's tomb at Brunswick Town (Wikipedia Commons)
Roger Moore’s tomb at Brunswick Town (Wikipedia Commons)

Buffalo City was a moonshine and logging community in East Lake Township in Dare County. The town’s history lasted about 80 years from the 1870s to 1950s. Read more about it here.

Diamond City

Diamond City was on the eastern end of Shackleford Banks in Carteret County. A hurricane struck in 1899, leaving its residents to flee. It had about 500 residents. Read more about it here.

Gibraltar

Gibraltar was a settlement in Union County named after the British territory of Gibraltar.

Judson

Judson was a small Swain County town that was submerged in water by the Fontana Dam. Read more about it here.

Lost Cove

Lost Cove was a town in Yancey County near the North Carolina, Tennessee border. Lost Cove is one of the most legendary ghost towns in the Eastern United States. Read more about it here.

Mortimer

Mortimer is a ghost town in  Wilson Creek Township in Caldwell County. It was once a mill town with a population of around 800. Read more about it here.

Portsmouth

Portsmouth was a a fishing and shipping village on Portsmouth Island on the Outer Banks. It is one of the last few wild, uninhabited islands along the North Carolina coast. Read more about it here.

Proctor

Proctor was a former mountain community in Swain County that was flooded.

The Roanoke Colony

The Roanoke Colony was established on Roanoke Island, in what is now Dare County. A group of colonists disappeared during the Anglo-Spanish War and were never to be found. The ghost town has since been nicknamed “The Lost Colony.” Read more about it here.