Ghost Towns Unit Study and Meeting Plan
Ready to earn your Ghost Towns Badge? Ghost towns are places where people once lived, worked, and built communities—but over time, those towns were left behind. In this unit study, students will explore why towns are abandoned, what remains behind, and how these places help us understand history, geography, and human choices. Along the way, you’ll look at real ghost towns, build your own, study how they are preserved, and even explore how modern technology helps locate forgotten places. This study pairs well with badges such as U.S. History, U.S. Geography, Architecture, Archaeology, and Photography.
Let’s step into the past and see what still stands.
1. What Is a Ghost Town?
A ghost town is a place where people once lived and worked, but now very few—or no—people remain. Some towns were built around a single industry like mining, logging, or railroads. When the jobs disappeared, families moved away. Others were abandoned because of drought, natural disasters, changing trade routes, or government projects.
Although the buildings may be empty, ghost towns still tell real stories. Old schools, homes, stores, and churches show what daily life was like when the town was active. By studying what remains, we can learn how communities form, why they decline, and how the environment and economy affect where people live.
To Do: Look at photos of at least three different ghost towns. Point out the buildings you see and discuss what they were used for. Talk about why people may have left.
Fulfills Preschool requirement #1
2. Build a Town That Disappeared
Understanding a ghost town becomes much easier when you create one yourself. Building a model helps children think about how a town is organized and what kinds of buildings are needed for everyday life. When you decide why your town was abandoned, you also begin to understand how real towns were affected by changing conditions.
You can make your town from blocks, cardboard, craft supplies, recycled materials, or paper. Include buildings like homes, a store, a school, a post office, and any industry that once supported the town.
To Do: Build or draw your own tiny ghost town. Label the buildings and explain what happened that caused people to leave.
Fulfills Preschool requirement #2
3. Why Towns Are Abandoned
Many ghost towns began as busy communities. Mining towns formed near gold, silver, or coal. Railroad towns grew where trains stopped. Farming towns developed where water and land made crops possible. But when resources ran out, transportation routes changed, or environmental problems made life difficult, people often had no choice but to move.
Common reasons towns become abandoned include job loss, drought, floods, fires, earthquakes, pollution, or new highways that bypass the area. Over time, buildings fall into disrepair, and nature begins to reclaim the land.
To Do: Create a simple chart with three columns: “Town Type,” “Why It Grew,” and “Why It Was Abandoned.” Fill it in for at least three real ghost towns you’ve learned about.
Possible ghost towns to study:
Fulfills Level 1 requirement #2
4. The Rise and Fall of One Ghost Town
Every ghost town has its own story. Some boomed quickly during gold rushes. Others took decades to grow before slowly fading away. Studying one town in detail helps students understand how history, economics, and geography work together.
Choose a real ghost town and learn about who lived there, what industries supported it, and what eventually caused it to decline. Find out what remains today—are there buildings still standing, or only foundations and artifacts?
To Do: Create a short timeline showing your chosen town’s beginning, peak years, decline, and abandonment. Add drawings or printed images to each event. If possible, actually go visit the site.
If you need ideas for fun ways to create a timeline, check out our blog 9 Fun Timeline Activities to Make History Come Alive
Fulfills Level 2 requirement #2.
5. Ghost Town Travel Brochure
Ghost towns often attract visitors who want to learn about history or carefully explore abandoned places. Creating a brochure helps kids think about how information is shared with the public in a way that is respectful, accurate, and safe. It also encourages them to organize facts, highlight important features, and consider what someone would need to know before visiting a historic site.
A good brochure balances storytelling with practical details. It explains what the town was like in its active years, what remains today, and how visitors can experience the site responsibly without damaging fragile structures or putting themselves in danger.
To Do: Create a travel brochure for a real or imaginary ghost town. Include the town’s history, list key buildings or landmarks visitors could see, and add clear safety tips for exploring abandoned places. Use drawings, maps, and design elements to make it easy to read and visually appealing.
Fulfills Optional requirement #3
6. Preserving and Studying Ghost Towns
Some ghost towns are protected as historical sites or tourist attractions. Others are left untouched and slowly return to nature. Archaeologists, historians, and preservation groups study abandoned towns to understand daily life in the past, building methods, and patterns of migration.
Preservation can include restoring buildings, posting safety information, offering guided tours, or documenting sites through photographs and maps. Not every town can or should be rebuilt, but careful study ensures the history is not lost.
To Do: Compare two ghost towns—one that is preserved and one that is not. Write or discuss how they are treated differently and why.
Fulfills Level 3 requirement #2.
7. Finding Lost Towns from Above
Modern technology has changed how scientists locate forgotten towns. Satellite images, aerial photography, and drones allow researchers to see patterns on the land that are hard to notice from the ground. Old road grids, foundations, and changes in vegetation can reveal where people once lived.
These tools are especially helpful in deserts, forests, and remote areas where towns were abandoned long ago. Today, digital mapping and 3D scanning also help document sites before weather and time erase what remains.
To Do: Use Google Earth or an online aerial map to explore a known ghost town from above. Look for building outlines, roads, and landscape changes. Mark what you notice on a printed map or sketch.
Google Earth (for satellite exploration)
https://earth.google.com
Fulfills Level 4 requirement #2.
8. Ghost Towns and the Environment
When people leave, nature slowly returns. Plants grow through cracks in sidewalks. Animals may move into empty buildings. Wind, water, and weather continue shaping what remains. Studying abandoned places helps us understand how environments recover and change over time.
To Do: Draw or write about how a modern town or city might look after 10, 50, or 100 years of being left alone. What plants or animals might take over?
Fulfills optional requirement #21
9. Stories from Empty Places
Ghost towns often inspire stories, legends, and creative writing. Some tales are based on real events, while others are imagined. Writing from the point of view of someone who once lived there helps kids think about history in a personal way.
To Do: Write a short journal entry or letter from the perspective of a child who lived in a town just before it was abandoned. Describe daily life and how it felt when families began to leave.
Fulfills Optional requirement #11
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External Resources
- Google Earth (for satellite exploration)
https://earth.google.com - Smithsonian Magazine: Articles on abandoned towns and preservation – use search term “Ghost Town”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com - PBS Learning Media: Ghost towns and American history videos – use search term “Ghost Town”
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org - Atlas Obscura: Famous ghost towns around the world – use search term “Ghost Town”
https://www.atlasobscura.com
