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Dogtown

Ghost town · Essex County, Massachusetts

Gloucester quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1886, 1:62,500)
Gloucester quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1886, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Dogtown is a ghost town in Essex County, Massachusetts, recorded as human settlement in Massachusetts, United States of America. It is one of 5 former communities in Essex County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 4th among the 13 Massachusetts counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Dogtown as a historical populated place: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 42.6365° N, 70.6610° W.

Key facts

Elevation119 ft
Nearest living townGloucester, MA
Distance to it1.4 miles
Coordinates42.63650, -70.66100

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Dogtown is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Gloucester, MA (population 29,862), about 1.4 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 119 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Images

Courage - Babson's Boulders - Dogtown, Massachusetts, USA.
Courage - Babson's Boulders - Dogtown, Massachusetts, USA. · Daderot / Wikimedia Commons · public-domain

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Dogtown?

Dogtown is in Essex County, Massachusetts, at 42.6365, -70.6610.

How many ghost towns are in Essex County?

Essex County, Massachusetts has 5 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.