Posted in Nebraska
July 08, 2016
This Haunting Road Trip Through Nebraska Ghost Towns Is One You Won’t Forget
Ghost towns dot the landscape in Nebraska like the random spots on a Dalmation. From the badlands to the lowlands and even just outside some of the bigger cities, through the years entire towns have dried up and disappeared from the Cornhusker State.
We’ve rounded up six of those towns and wrapped them up neatly in a planned road trip of Nebraska Ghost Towns you’ll find hauntingly unforgettable. The locations are plotted on this Google Map you can easily bookmark and later access to get directions on your phone or print out a full itinerary to take with you. As plotted, this trip is just over 12 hours of drive time. You may want to split it up into two days so you can spend as much time at each location as you want.
This is one roadtrip you can’t miss. Let’s get started…
We’re aware that these uncertain times are limiting many aspects of life as we all practice social and physical distancing. While we’re continuing to feature destinations that make our state wonderful, we don’t expect or encourage you to go check them out immediately. We believe that supporting local attractions is important now more than ever and we hope our articles inspire your future adventures! And on that note, please nominate your favorite local business that could use some love right now: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/nominate/
Our road trip starts in the sandhills in a ghost town hiding in plain sight.
Antioch was once the Potash capital of the world. Shortly after WWI started the need for potash was so great that five potash plants sprang up here. The new employers needed workers and within several months a town of nearly 2,000 people had developed here.
Two thousand people all at once. According to Wikipedia, before the war, Antioch had one school, a church and a store. But the war needs changed all that and this town was booming.
Where did they go? The town dried up shortly after the war ended, thanks to renewed trade arrangements with Germany. Now as you drive through this part of Nebraska you can still see the remnants of the Potash reduction plants - and if you know where to look you can probably see evidence of the families that moved out of town a little less than 100 years ago.
The ghost town of Brocksburg is located along a section of rolling hills on Nebraska's popular Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway.
Travel south along Nebraska 137, also called Highway 12, until just before you reach the Keya Paha River and turn right on the last dirt road before the river to discover a hidden treasure only steps off the highway.
You'll find a lush landscape of mature trees hugging what remains of the family homesteads built here so long ago, then deserted some time after. Several buildings are still standing, and most of them are shrouded by huge trees as if the trees have offered protection all these years.
In her heyday, Brocksburg had a post office but it closed in 1957. You may feel enamored by Brocksburg, or what remains of her. The endearing relationship between the trees and the empty homes is almost overwhelming.
Venus got its start as a post office in 1882. Soon after, someone opened a store in the front part of their house. This photo was taken of the store a few years ago. It's since collapsed into a pile of rubble.
The post office in Venus would continue to operate until 1959. Although there may be a few homes in the Venus area, this town began to dry up the moment the U.S. Post Office closed.
Dobytown, is seems, was named appropriately for the adobe-style earthen structures that were built here after the opening of Fort Kearny a few miles to the East.
Ironically, all that remains today of Dobytown is earth. The photo above shows a marker that's been placed alongside the road where Dobytown once stood. You'll find it here, along highway 50A in Kearney County not far from Fort Kearny.
Dobytown arose after Fort Kearny opened in 1848 as an outpost of the U.S. Army. The outpost was far enough from the new town that much debauchery could be had in Dobytown and be far enough away from the post to avoid getting anyone in trouble. The two were separated by approximately four miles.
This map shows the distance from Dobytown Historical Marker to Fort Kearny State Park. Fort Kearny is worth a stop after you visit the ghost town of Dobytown. Its only a few miles away and will dish up much history for you about the people of Dobytown.
In its prime, Minersville, named when a small band of coal was found and mining got underway here, was a booming area. There was a store, post office, saloon, church and blacksmith. Today...all that remains is the cemetery but no one has seen it in years. Will you be the one to locate it for the rest of us?
The ghost town of St. Deroin is located on the northern brim of Indian Cave State Park.
St Deroin was completely abandoned in 1920, but not before it enjoyed the fruits of being a thriving trading post. It was also the site of a popular ferry that carried people across the Missouri for decades. However, the river changed course and the ferry business dried up.
Eventually the great Missouri flooded one time too many and the townsfolk got fed up and moved away, the last of them leaving in 1920.
Now all that remains of St. Deroin are the school and the cemetery. One of them is reportedly haunted. Can you guess which one?
This ghost town road trip should be a real blast. If we left out any ghost towns you’d like to see in a “Part Two” in this ghost towns road trip series feel free to add them in our comments. We’d love to know.
If you love scary road trips then you should read Here’s The Ultimate Terrifying Nebraska Roadtrip and I’ll Haunt Your Dreams.
