8 Abandoned Places In Maine

Maine is a place famous for tasty lobster, delicious seafood, and quiet lighthouses overlooking the sea. When it comes to the state’s reputation, you’d never guess that spookiness could thrive here. (Well, aside from Stephen King, anyway.) Believe it or not, the area has tons of abandoned places that could send a chill up anyone’s spine. Wondering what the creepiest ones are?

The area of Maine is rife with fascinating stories of abandoned places. The more popular mentions include:

Once upon a time, Swan Island was one of the first places that people ever settled in Maine. During the 18th century, the teeny island was known as Perkins. It had a lighthouse and a bunch of other small homes. Then, just as soon as the city was established, everyone seemed to leave in a hurry. Stranger still, this is where major historical figures like Aaron Burr first set foot on US soil.

This makes Swan Island all the stranger. On paper, no one knows why Swan Island was abandoned. Some rumors suggest that a huge flood happened and swept people to sea. Others say it was a massive increase in pollution or the fact that Maine acquired more of the island over time. Regardless, some houses still stand—including the home of former Mayor of the Massachusetts Militia.

Weirder still, there is still furniture in the houses. You can only get there by kayak or boat, and no effort has ever been made to turn this into a museum. Strange.

In Maine, skiing is a way of life. It’s unsurprising, then, that sometimes you might end up hearing of an abandoned ski resort. This was the case with Evergreen Ski Resort, which was built in 1972. The owners hoped that it would be the state-of-the-art ski resort that everyone adored. It had a pool, ski lifts, as well as a restaurant. The entire thing cost a whopping $7 million, which was a lot back then.

Unfortunately, it was the biggest failure of its kind with much of the issues dealing with corruption, pure and simple. There were politicians who demanded kickbacks, bureaucrats who messed up paperwork as well as financiers who just got greedy. The simple, small-town business owners were way over their heads.

To make matters worse, the demand for the ski area was not as high as they hoped. This led to the resort shuttering in a matter of years. Recently, the resort was bought and made into private (yet still abandoned) property.

The Civil War was a strange era indeed. They had some pretty awkward and weird ways of protecting America. At one point, the soldiers used hot air balloons to do reconnaissance. One of the weirder ideas they came up with during the war (and slightly before) was to put a fort off the coast of Maine. Somehow, this was meant to provide protection from the Confederacy.

Regardless of the (lack of) rationale, Fort Gorge was created. Though it was erected during the Civil War, it never saw any action…to absolutely no one’s surprise. Since then, the fort was abandoned and left to rot. Today, it looks like a mysterious Grecian arena. Not much ever happens there and you may need a boat to be able to get there.

This was a tale that marks a tragic loss of a historic town. During the 18th century, Flagstaff got its name as a place where Benedict Arnold (yes, that guy again!) placed a flag in the ground, marking American territory on his way to Quebec. That alone gave the place a huge history mark. But, it got even more significant: the British used the area as a campground during the Revolution.

The city of Flagstaff was a fairly upbeat place. There were people there, lots of them. There was a post office, a church, multiple homes, stores, and even a graveyard. It was actually the largest town in the Dead River Valley and was slated to become a major hub. Unfortunately, the town’s life was cut short in the 1940s when it was flooded to make way for a hydroelectric power plant.

What is left of the once-booming city now rests at the bottom of the manmade lake of the same name.

Battery Steele was another military project that was built for use but never officially used. This time around, it was for World War II. When the war ended, there was no need to keep up the battery. As a result, the troops left and never returned. However, the story doesn’t end there. While this graffiti-heavy site is abandoned most of the year, it does have people return to it in spades once a year.

That is for the Sacred and Profane festival. The festival is a rather local-famous arts and music festival that acts like the type of place where you need to know someone to get in.

Looks spooky, doesn’t it? Well, this hospital is relatively new. It was only built in 1950, and it was fairly well-to-do until it entered a merger with Webber. The hospital was meant to provide quality care to both the mentally ill as well as the elderly. The funding, though, wasn’t there. Eventually, the hospital had to be turned into an assisted living facility to turn a profit.

By 2005, the facilities just didn’t hold water anymore. They were outdated and the entire building had to be shut down. While it is not a place that was known for mistreatment of hospital patients, the way that people left everything in disarray is unsettling. People still find rusty wheelchairs and beds there, waiting for another patient.

As of the time of this writing, the local government is working on taking the building down.

Once upon a time, there was a railroad meant to carry pulp wood from Eagle Lake to different parts of the state. More specifically they needed a way to get them to West Branch, a nearby town. The wood industry was bustling, but they didn’t need too much transport. The two towns agreed on getting two trains.

The two locomotives ran during the early part of the 1920s until the mid-1930s. As the lumber supply industry faded into the background, the area no longer needed. This led the trains to get decommissioned. To store them, Eagle Lake placed them in a small shed that was connected to the railroad and left them there.

Eventually, a wildfire came and burned the shed down to the ground. Inside of the shed were the two trains. With the shed gone, the trains were stuck there, ready to rust. And that’s exactly what they did, and that’s exactly where they stayed until this very day.

Impressive, isn’t it? The mansion was built in 1859 for Colonel John Goddard, a man who would later become Captain of the 1st Maine Volunteer Cavalry Regiment during the American Civil War. During its heyday, this mansion became the pride and joy of Cape Elizabeth. Unfortunately, Goddard passed away and the property became a part of the US Army’s holdings in 1900.

During this time, the mansion was used as NCO quarters. Eventually, the mansion became too poorly maintained to be used for living. So they turned it into a clubhouse for a while. Even then, it was starting to show signs of its age.

By 1962, the mansion showed serious signs of decay. To avoid causing a wildfire, the mansion was burned down in a controlled fire. Today, all that’s left of the home is the masonry. With that said, it’s considered to be a historic landmark and the masonry remains an iconic part of the city.

Related Questions

How do I find abandoned Maine cabins for sale?

If you’re seeking out a cabin in the woods, the best thing that you can do is look at the foreclosure listings or public auctions. As long as the cabin in question is still deemed livable, you should be able to place a bit on it. At times, you might also be able to get listings by finding out information about a property you want online, then approaching the owner themselves.

What is Maine’s abandoned property law?

If the property is worth more than $50, people who discover the property need to give the owners a message saying that their property is about to be turned over to the state. Properties that are left abandoned without any maintenance are given a window of time to claim their property. Usually, it’s 21 days.

Is Skowhagen abandoned?

Not quite. The Maine town of Skowhagen still is alive and well. The area does have a population that’s over 50,000. So, it’s not like you’re going to walk into a ghost town. However, there are parts of the city that are completely abandoned for one reason or another.