Alabama officially lists 55 ghost towns, but you’ll find the actual number likely exceeds 350 abandoned settlements when county archives, unpublished surveys, and field documentation are considered. Many unincorporated villages, mining camps, and river ports vanished without formal records, especially those lacking post offices or municipal status. Counties like Blount (17 sites) and Bibb (12 sites) reveal how official tallies undercount reality. From Cahawba’s flooded capital to bypassed railroad towns, Alabama’s landscape holds far more lost communities than public registries acknowledge—and understanding their distribution reveals compelling patterns about settlement, decline, and preservation across the state’s diverse regions.
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11.1 Are Alabama’s Ghost Towns Safe to Visit Without Permission?…