13 lakes and rivers that hide ghost towns underwater

Across the country, whole towns sit at the bottom of lakes. Literally. Big dams were built & rivers were rerouted, causing homes to be left behind or even swallowed up. It’s honestly quite strange to think that boats now float where main streets once stood. Here are thirteen of these underwater ghost towns. Which do you want to visit?

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St. Thomas under Lake Mead, Nevada

St. Thomas was once a small farming town started by Mormon settlers in the 1860s. It didn’t stand a chance when the Hoover Dam went up & the government bought every home.

By 1938, the last resident rowed away before the water reached his doorstep. You can still walk the cracked remains of its old foundations when Lake Mead drops.

Kennett beneath Shasta Lake, California

Kennett was a copper boomtown in the early 1900s, featuring saloons & a railroad stop. Then the 1940s rolled in with the Shasta Dam. Everyone had to pack up.

The dam’s floodwaters buried the entire valley, but during dry summers, bits of brick & concrete peek through the shallow water.

Mormon Island in Folsom Lake, California

Mormon Island was a Gold Rush town. But after a massive fire in 1856, the place never recovered, and when Folsom Dam was built almost a century later, the ruins received a permanent burial under the new reservoir.

Droughts pull the curtain back every now & then. They show the cellar walls & old bottles like time forgot.

Hite at the head of Lake Powell, Utah

Hite was a quiet desert crossing with a ferry that shuttled cars across the Colorado River. When Glen Canyon Dam started filling up in the ’60s, it erased the whole town, and the town’s now under the north end of Lake Powell.

Sometimes, when water levels drop, you can almost trace where the main road once ran down to the ferry landing. It’s truly quite haunting to think about all of the history and all the memories lying beneath the water.

Flagstaff & Dead River in Flagstaff Lake, Maine

Two small Maine towns, Flagstaff & Dead River, were cleared out for a new dam in the late 1940s. Crews torched empty houses and moved cemeteries. They also watched the water rise.

To this day, locals say you can still see bits of fence & stone foundation when you kayak in the shallows. The valley’s gone, sure, but its outline still haunts the lake in a way that has to be seen to be believed.

Dana, Enfield, Greenwich & Prescott in Quabbin Reservoir, Massachusetts

Four entire towns vanished here in the Quabbin Reservoir in the 1930s so Boston could have clean water. People packed up their lives and left everything behind. Everything went under when the reservoir filled, and the old stone cellars & roadbeds are now hidden.

They’re beneath one of New England’s largest drinking-water supplies, although most of the people here have no idea about that.

Jerusalem under Candlewood Lake, Connecticut

Candlewood Lake looks peaceful now. But back in the 1920s, it covered a farming village called Jerusalem, until the land was bought up for a hydro project that flooded the valley.

Barns & mills were taken apart piece by piece. However, stories say a few foundations are still down there, and local divers have even spotted remnants of old stone walls.

Bluffton below Lake Buchanan, Texas

The Colorado River once ran through the middle of old Bluffton, Texas. That is, until engineers built Buchanan Dam in the 1930s & everyone had to move uphill before the water came.

Sometimes when the lake’s really low, you can see what’s left. These include a few stone buildings and sidewalks, even the church steps. The “new” Bluffton still sits safely nearby.

Petersburg in J. Strom Thurmond (Clarks Hill) Lake, Georgia–South Carolina

In the late 1700s, Petersburg was a thriving riverside town, busy with traders & riverboats, but then progress came calling. The Clarks Hill Dam was built in the 1950s.

With it, the townsite disappeared under the new reservoir that straddles Georgia & South Carolina. Locals claim the spot is now a favorite fishing hole, just as long as you know where to look on the map.

Willow Grove in Dale Hollow Lake, Tennessee–Kentucky

Before the water came, Willow Grove was the kind of place where you waved to every car that passed. People had farms & the school sat by the road. Then came the 1940s and a government project that changed everything.

When Dale Hollow Lake filled up, so did the old valley, so families moved uphill & their barns are what stayed behind.

Loyston under Norris Lake, Tennessee

Loyston didn’t vanish all at once. The Tennessee Valley Authority started flooding the Clinch River in the 1930s, promising jobs & power, so locals packed wagons. They grabbed what they could.

Sadly, they watched as water slowly swallowed their town. You can still make out the ghost of a chimney or two poking through the green water when the lake’s low.

Old Kernville (Whiskey Flat) in Lake Isabella, California

Kernville had grit. It started as Whiskey Flat back in gold-mining days, featuring saloons & stories you’d only half believe, but a century later, progress caught up. The Isabella Dam was built in the 1950s & the river rose. The town sank.

As a result, people simply built a “New Kernville” up the road, and you’re able to still walk the dried bed and find bits of the past today.

Sacandaga Valley communities in Great Sacandaga Lake, New York

In the late 1920s, people living in the Sacandaga Valley had no idea they’d soon need boats to visit their old homes. A massive flood-control plan put the entire valley underwater.

These days, the Great Sacandaga Lake is simply calm water & fishing docks. But there are whole towns sitting in the dark under the surface that most people have absolutely no idea about.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article: