The Summary: Every Destination, Seven States

Introduction

This is the index. Everything the truck is built for, in one place, grouped by state and then by cluster, so a trip can be planned as a loop rather than a single stop.

⭐ THE ORGANISING IDEA: dead towns cluster, and the clusters follow whatever killed them. Michigan’s follow copper, iron, limestone and white pine, roughly 1860–1915. Ohio’s and Kentucky’s follow coal. Illinois’s follow rivers. And Tennessee’s and North Carolina’s follow something different again — a government buying a valley and removing the people in it. Four or five sites inside a forty-mile radius, all killed by the same event, is a weekend. One site three hours away is an errand.

1.1 What the access notes mean

Every entry carries one. They are about what you may enter, not what you can see from the road.

Table 1 — What the access notes mean

Note	Meaning
Walk in	Public land, open, no permission, no gate, no fee.
Open, with rules	Public or non-profit and open, but with hours, a fee, a pass, or posted preserve rules.
Look, don’t enter	Go, park, photograph — but the standing buildings are private, unsafe, or both.
Roadside	Worth the stop while passing. Not worth a trip on its own.
Not researched	Listed so it is not forgotten. No access checked — do not plan around it.

⚠ One rule covers buildings everywhere. Entering a structure without the owner’s permission is an offence in every state here — no sign required, and abandoned does not mean unowned. Ruins, foundations and roofless masonry on public land are free, which is most of what is worth seeing anyway.

1.2 Michigan — the home state

Table 2 — Michigan — the home state

Destination	County	What is actually there	Access	Vol
Cluster 1 — The Copper Country
Central Mine	Keweenaw	~a dozen houses still standing, miners’ church	Open, with rules	2
Old Victoria	Ontonagon	Restored log miners’ village, interpreted	Open, with rules	2
Nonesuch	Ontonagon	Masonry ruins, sealed adits, waterfall; ½-mile walk	Open, with rules	2
Redridge Steel Dam	Houghton	1901 steel dam, 1,000 ft across, 70 ft tall	Look, don’t enter	2
Freda / Champion mill	Houghton	Huge stamp-mill ruin over Lake Superior	Look, don’t enter	2
Cliff Mine / Clifton	Keweenaw	The most productive US copper mine, 1845–54	Walk in	5
Mandan	Keweenaw	⭐ Abandoned houses standing in the trees	Look, don’t enter	5
Gay	Keweenaw	1921 stamp-mill stack, 265 ft tall	Roadside	5
Phoenix	Keweenaw	General store, 1843 church and cemetery	Roadside	5
Winona	Houghton	Blacksmith shop + outdoor exhibits, maintained	Walk in	5
Copper Falls · White Pine	Keweenaw / Ontonagon	—	Not researched	5
Cluster 2 — Watersmeet
The Paulding Light	Ontonagon	A light down a power-line cut, most nights	Walk in	2
Cluster 3 — The Superior Shore
Bay Furnace / Onota	Alger	⭐ 45 ft sandstone blast furnace, IN the campground	Walk in	3
Old Town Negaunee	Marquette	⭐ A city block evacuated for mine subsidence	Look, don’t enter	5
Cluster 4 — The Garden Peninsula
Fayette	Delta	A whole preserved 1867–91 iron town	Open, with rules	3
Cluster 5 — The Eastern UP
Fiborn Quarry	Mackinac	Rail house, ore-car loader, sinkholes	Open, with rules	3
Shelldrake	Chippewa	Weathered buildings, mill and tramway remains	🔴 PRIVATE — roadside only	5
Blaney Park	Schoolcraft	1930s–50s resort; ⚠ partly in business again	Roadside	5
Nahma · Seney	Delta / Schoolcraft	⚠ Inhabited towns, not ghost towns	Roadside	5
Cluster 6 — Grayling and Gaylord
Pere Cheney	Crawford	The cemetery, and essentially nothing else	Open — 8 a.m.–8 p.m.	4
Deward	Crawford / Kalkaska	Mill-town site on the upper Manistee	Walk in ⚠ unconfirmed	4
Cluster 7 — Sleeping Bear
Port Oneida	Leelanau	⭐ 121 empty buildings, 1870–1945	Open, with rules	4
Glen Haven	Leelanau	Preserved village: museum, store, inn, smithy	Open, with rules	5
Aral	Benzie	Cabin foundation, dock remains, interpretive sign	Walk in	5
Cluster 8 — Baraga, the Thumb, the West
Pequaming	Baraga	Ford’s mill town — powerhouse and water tank	Look, don’t enter	5
Alberta	Baraga	⚠ NOT a ghost town — MTU living museum, inhabited	Open, with rules	5
Port Crescent	Huron	⭐ One chimney; there were seventeen city blocks	Walk in	5
Grindstone City	Huron	Grindstones scattered through the village	Roadside	5
Singapore	Allegan	🔴 Nothing — buried under the dunes. Marker only	Roadside	5
Huron City · Nirvana · Walhalla	various	—	Not researched	5

1.3 Ohio — vol 6

Table 3 — Ohio — vol 6

Destination	County	What is there	Access
Moonville Tunnel	Vinton	⭐ Rail tunnel of a vanished town; a lantern ghost with a date	Walk in
San Toy	Perry	Foundations. ⭐ The town voted itself out of existence in 1931	Look, don’t enter
Shawnee	Perry	Brick main street, foundations	Roadside ⚠ unconfirmed
Boston Mills / “Helltown”	Summit	Houses emptied by eminent domain, now in a national park	Open, no entry

1.4 Indiana — vol 7

Table 4 — Indiana — vol 7

Destination	County	What is there	Access
Elkinsville	Brown	Cemetery + forest. ⭐ Emptied in 1964 for a lake that never reached it	Walk in
Charles C. Deam Wilderness	Monroe	13,000 acres, 36 mi of trail. 🔴 No vehicles inside	Walk in

1.5 Illinois — vol 8

Table 5 — Illinois — vol 8

Destination	County	What is there	Access
Old Shawneetown	Gallatin	⭐ A Greek Revival bank in an empty floodplain. 1937: river 15 ft over 60 ft levees	Roadside
Cairo	Alexander	15,000 → under 2,000. ⚠ People live here — be decent	Roadside
Kaskaskia	Randolph	First state capital; the Mississippi moved and left it on the Missouri side	Roadside
Garden of the Gods	Saline	Sandstone bluffs; 12 sites — where you sleep	Walk in

1.6 Kentucky — vol 9

Table 6 — Kentucky — vol 9

Destination	County	What is there	Access
Blue Heron / Mine 18	McCreary	⭐⭐ Steel “ghost structures” where the buildings stood, with the residents’ recorded voices. Free.	Walk in
Paradise	Muhlenberg	Nothing. TVA demolished the town in 1967 over its own coal plant	Story only
Land Between the Lakes	Lyon / Trigg	~800 families displaced; cemeteries among the trees	Open ⚠ unresearched

1.7 Tennessee — vol 10

Table 7 — Tennessee — vol 10

Destination	County	What is there	Access
Elkmont / Daisy Town	Sevier	⭐⭐ 17 Appalachian Club cabins + lodge, empty, doors open, a short walk from the car	Open, with rules
Rugby	Morgan / Scott	1880 utopian colony, restored village	Open, with rules
Wheat	Roane	Church still standing. 🔴 Visible from SR-58 but you cannot drive to it	Walk / cycle in
Proctor, Hazel Creek	Swain (NC side)	Buyout community — ⚠ boat or long walk; not confirmed	Not researched

1.8 North Carolina — vol 11

Table 8 — North Carolina — vol 11

Destination	County	What is there	Access
The Road to Nowhere	Swain	⭐⭐ A road built as an apology, abandoned, ending in a tunnel that points at graves	Walk in
Mortimer	Caldwell	Lumber town killed twice by Wilson Creek — 1916 and 1940 (94 ft flood stage)	Walk in
Cataloochee Valley	Haywood	Houses, churches, school preserved in pasture; elk	Open ⚠ unconfirmed

1.9 Where to start

The strongest trip is still Michigan Clusters 1 and 2 — the Copper Country and Watersmeet. Standing buildings, industrial scale, a night destination, free federal camping, and the UP’s almost entirely open forest-road network under it.

The best weekend from home is Cluster 6 — Pere Cheney and Deward, both about two hours away. 🔴 Call Camp Grayling Range Control first (989-344-6156) — its ~147,000 acres cover the same three counties.

The best single destination in the whole list is Blue Heron, Kentucky, and the best answer to “abandoned houses you can walk into” is a tie between Port Oneida (121 buildings, Michigan) and Elkmont’s Daisy Town (Tennessee) — with Elkmont ahead on atmosphere and Port Oneida ahead on scale.

🔴 Before any out-of-state trip, read vol 12. The camping rules in these six states do not merely differ from Michigan’s — two of them are its exact opposite, and the habit that keeps you legal at home will get you a citation in North Carolina.