Ghost Towns in Florida

Brewster

Polk County • Est. 1910

Brewster was a segregated company town for the American Cyanamid Company, mining phosphate. The town was shut down in the 1960s, partially due to envi...

Egmont Key

Hillsborough County • Est. 1858

Egmont Key has a fascinating history: a Seminole War prison camp, a Union Navy base during the Civil War, a Spanish-American War fort (Fort Dade), and...

Ellaville

Madison County • Est. 1860s

Ellaville was a thriving cotton and lumber town on the Suwannee River. George Drew (Florida's first Democratic governor after Reconstruction) owned ma...

Flamingo

Monroe County • Est. 1890s

Flamingo was an isolated fishing and farming village at the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. Residents were relocated when the Everglades became...

Kerr City

Marion County • Est. 1884

Kerr City was a citrus boomtown until the Great Freeze of 1894-95 wiped out the groves. Most residents left. The nearly perfectly preserved buildings,...

Koreshan Unity

Lee County • Est. 1894

The Koreshan Unity was a cult that believed Earth was hollow and we live inside. Founder Cyrus Teed (Koresh) led followers here in 1894. They practice...

Port Boca Grande

Lee County • Est. 1907

Port Boca Grande was a major phosphate shipping terminal. Trains brought phosphate from central Florida mines to deep-water docks on Gasparilla Island...

Rosewood

Levy County • Est. 1847

Rosewood was a predominantly Black town destroyed in the 1923 Rosewood Massacre. A white mob killed an unknown number of residents and burned every bu...

Stiltsville

Miami-Dade County • Est. 1930s

Stiltsville is a collection of wooden houses built on stilts in the shallow waters of Biscayne Bay. At its peak, 27 houses stood; hurricanes destroyed...

Yeehaw Junction

Osceola County • Est. 1880s

Yeehaw Junction (formerly Jackass Junction) is a crossroads stop with Florida Cracker heritage. The Desert Inn & Restaurant (1889) serves cowboys and ...