New Hampshire's Once-Thriving Town Is Now An Abandoned Relic

When you hear ruins, your mind may take you straight to Greece with its ancient temples. If you're thinking closer to home, you might imagine a ghost town with a gift shop like Calico, in California. However, there is nothing more chilling and fascinating than the relic of a once-thriving place that has crumbled, with no loud tourists or logo t-shirts. If you want to see a real abandoned ruin, the town of Livermore, New Hampshire, might make you shudder in the best way. Right in the middle of the White Mountain National Forest, home to the ethereal Diana's Baths waterfall, you'll find the remains of a place that once served as a hometown for loggers. You can walk around the ruins of an old mill, a school, and more, and you may find a few artifacts left behind by the residents. 

To get to the remains of Livermore, New Hampshire, according to White Mountain History, you take "the Sawyer River Road from Rt. 302, west of Bartlett. About two miles up this road, portions of which were originally part of the logging railroad, on the left will be seen the remnants of the last sawmill and power house." The coordinates for the location on Google Maps are: 44.05105267708245, -71.43604391607923. The closest major airport to Livermore is Portland International Jetport (PWM) in Maine, which is around 80 miles away. This means you'll need a car. Before you set off for Livermore, however, make sure you spend a little time in Portland, a hidden gem of a town with a scenic beach and hiking trails. 

The town of Livermore was founded in 1876, centered around a logging company owned by the Saunders family of Massachusetts. The town was named after a senator for New Hampshire, Samuel Livermore, who was a relative of the Saunders family (by marriage). It wasn't a large town, with only around a couple hundred residents. However, there were all sorts of buildings there, including a mill, a school, a barn, a store, and more. Some of the old structures remain there in ruin: Part of the mill and school, a round brick chimney, and some house foundations. There are also still a few items around that once belonged to the people who lived there, like pipes, bottles, and other odds and ends. 

Livermore met with some misfortune over a century ago. A fire damaged some of the buildings, and a flood in the 1920s took out the mill. People started to leave, and the town charter was revoked in 1951. The spot was recommended on a Reddit thread in r/newhampshire asing about abandoned places to explore, with one poster saying, "The logging village of Livermore. It's a hike to get there, but there is still some structures left and you can see the old village center with some effort (although it takes a wide view as it is largely overgrown)." That said, a 2020 census found that there were two residents living there. If you do choose to explore Livermore, New Hampshire, be careful where you step and let someone know where you'll be. Finally, since you'll likely have a car, it's worth your time to take the hour-long drive afterwards to New Hampshire's mountainous under-the-radar Franconia Notch State Park, especially given its pristine lake views.