Abandoned Settlement
4/5
Dogtown
Spanning over five square miles of dense woods, rocky moraines, and granite boulders on Cape Ann, Dogtown is a famously abandoned 17th-century inland settlement divided between Gloucester and Rockport, Massachusetts. Founded in 1693 as a safe inland haven during coastal pirate raids, the village fell into decline following the American Revolution, earning its eerie name from the ferocious feral guard dogs left behind by impoverished widows. Today a public conservation wilderness, Dogtown is world-renowned for its strange carved 'Babson Boulders', eerie folklore of local witches, disembodied canine howls, and lingering colonial spirits.