Ghost Town Back on the Market

The history of the abandoned village Johnsonville is a fascinating one. The story of its past started making its way around the Internet in October of 2014, when the 60-plus acre ghost town was put on the auction block.

The starting bid was $800,000. When the auction closed, the winning bid was $1.9 million. If owning a ghost town is your dream, then this bodes well for you:

“It’s official, Johnsonville is still on the market!” — Greetings From Historic Johnsonville

For undisclosed reasons, the deal wasn’t sealed and a listing for the historic village is online again.

“This historic village presents a unique redevelopment opportunity to combine the historic value of the 19th century village with 21st century living as permitted uses include: single family, multifamily housing to include market rate and affordable, senior housing, arts/entertainment center, B&B’s, inn, restaurant/banquet facility, retail shops and schools,” the Figure Eight Properties listing for Johnsonville states.

A covered bridge, wooden dam and waterfall still exist on the property. Videos of Johnsonville are featured below.

Johnsonville’s History

Johnsonville, located in East Haddam, began as a mill village.

“The nearby Neptune Mill supplied twine for fishing nets to the Connecticut coast, and workers here built a village that prospered all the way until the 1960s,” according to the National Geographic footage from Abandoned, a show about forgotten places. “But when the demand for twine disappeared, so did the villagers.”

In the early 1960s, Raymond Schmitt, the owner of an aerospace equipment manufacturer, purchased Johnsonville. He wanted it to be a tourist attraction, even going so far as to purchase vintage buildings from afar and have them moved to the village.

Related

• Ghost Town For Sale [UPDATED]
• One Man, One Ghost Town, One Google Doc -- And a Dream
• Johnsonville ‘Ghost Town’ Attracts Highest Bid of $1.9 Million
• Greetings From Historic Johnsonville: The “TBT” Edition
• Historic Johnsonville for Sale for Just Under $3 Million

But Schmitt’s plans never came to complete fruition. Online accounts show differing reasons — Schmitt’s death before his dream could be realized or a dispute with the town’s zoning officials are two of them.

When Schmitt died in the late 1990s, his heirs auctioned off all his holdings, including Johnsonville. The village saw some interest over the years.

In 2008, a hotel developer bought the village and filed plans for a mixed-use development that included 133 single-family houses and townhouses, a health club, recreation center, meeting hall and post office.

Those plans didn’t come to fruition either and the village was on the market again in 2013, for just under $3 million. In 2014, Johnsonville went to auction, with the outcome noted above, bringing the timeline to present day.

Interesting Tidbits

• Johnsonville had a starring role in the 1993 video for Billy Joel’s “The River Song” [See the music video below]
• The movie “Freedom,” starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and originally billed as “Something Whispered,” was partially filmed in Johnsonville
• Some say Schmitt’s ghost still roams through Johnsonville but others say they’ve never seen an apparition in the village

What would you like to see happen with the property of Johnsonville? What do you think would be a successful venture?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo Credit: Patch archives/Screengrabs from Vidaao video