People are captivated by drowned towns under lakes. Scuba divers live to explore these watery ghost towns and communities. Sometimes, we can find enough historical documentation that makes for an interesting story. We have a few underwater ghost towns to talk about with some fascinating historical facts.
Underwater communities turn into artificial reefs and habitats for marine life, and they can complement the biodiversity and productivity of water bodies. Sometimes, the authorities relocated whole town, but in others, they at least tried to relocate the graveyards and cemeteries.
Today, the term “development-induced displacement” refers people who were moved because of large economic development projects, and especially hydroelectric projects. These drowned towns exist all over the world. In the U.S., some of their histories are quickly disappearing, and their little-known facts are spinning into myths.
Nameless Texas, North of Lake Travis
- Nameless Hollow
- Nameless Ranch Road
- Nameless Road
- Nameless Saloon
Nameless One-room School House: Nameless School, a one-room schoolhouse that, alongside the road and a corresponding cemetery, are some of the last remnants of a northwest Travis County community. 23436 Nameless Road, Leander, TX,
Friends of Nameless School The 46 star flag flown at the schoolhouse from 1908 – 1912. The Gray House that was just moved to the site. We visited some snakes that would not be fun to make angry! Walked through Nameless Cemetery. Seen the original steps from the Nameless Post Office from 1880 and a walkthrough of the Nameless School.
- Nameless Valley Ranch
Nameless Cemetery Five miles northwest of Lago Vista, a small group of citizens banded together to attempt to establish a post office. After six name suggestions were rejected by the post office the residents replied in disgust, “Let the post office be nameless and be damned!” Thus the town of Nameless was born.
The grave of little Rudolph Kauffman features the oldest legible stone in the cemtery, but it’s probably not. Undated stones appear to be older.
- The small community never counted more than a handful of buildings, most of which have long since been torn down. One feature that remained is the Nameless Cemetery, which resides on Nameless Road, just north of FM 1431. On some maps the cemetery is also referred to as the “Fairview Cemetery”.
- Nameless Cave
Residents sent in a request to dub the area Fairview due to its beautiful Hill Country views. However, the U.S. postal system wrote back and denied the request, saying the name was taken.
Residents sent in several more name requests, all of which were already in use.
“So finally they just said, ‘well then, let it be nameless and be damned,” Kercheville said, laughing. “So that’s how it became Nameless.”
The town eventually became a part of the city of Leander, and the Nameless (Fairview) school closed in 1945. The school was restored in 2008-2009, and it and the Nameless Cemetery are all that is left of the Nameless
Big Sandy Creek
Lake Buchanan, Bluffton, Texas
Severe droughts have brought Old Bluffton back to the surface at times. The Buchanan Dam inundated the town of Bluffton and thousands of acres of land that grew pecan orchards, cornfields, and cotton farm. The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) forced about 50 families to sell their land or face condemnation, and move their homes and cemeteries to dry ground.
Lake Buchanan touches Burnett and Llano Counties 78 miles northwest of Austin, Texas, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. The LCRA thought it might take up to ten years to fill Lake Buchanan, but it rained much more than usual in 1938. It only took 15 months. Some Bluffton residents had not completely moved everything off their land.
Billy Davis moved his family to Texas and established a homestead. The Davis’ named their new area Bluffton, Texas, after their Arkansas hometown, around 1852. Bluffton burned down in 1883. Everybody had to move a half mile north, and they built a new Bluffton near the stagecoach line, which roughly followed today’s SH 29.
Before the 1883 fire, Bluffton had established a blacksmith, cotton gin, a hotel, saloons, a store, and combination school and community center. New Bluffton moved five miles west, on the eastern side of Buchanan Lake. New Bluffton’s relocated cemetery dates back to 1884, and is designated as a Historic Texas Cemetery.
The LCRA relocated 422 graves out of 459 to the New Bluffton Cemetery in 1931. The cemetery has grown with many more graves since then. The railroad bypassed New Bluffton, and the town declined. Today, Bluffton is a junction at FM 2241 and SH 261 with a convenience store and a post office two miles from the Redrock Creek arm of Lake Buchanan.
Recent droughts in 2009, 2011-2012 and 2022 brought Old Bluffton’s foundations and its baseball field out of the water. The Bluffton Eagles played teams from Burnet and Llano counties before 1937. It is illegal to remove artifacts if Old Bluffton pops up, but people do. The Texas Historical Commission’s archeological division excavated the site in 2009.
Lake Whitney, Towash, Texas
Nestled beneath the expansive waters of Lake Whitney lies the forgotten town of Towash, Texas—a once-thriving community that met an aquatic end with the creation of the lake. Established in the mid-19th century, Towash was named after a local Native American chief and prospered due to its strategic location along the Brazos River. This allowed the town to become a bustling hub for gristmills and cotton gins, drawing settlers who sought prosperity in the fertile river valley.
However, the town’s fate took a dramatic turn in the 1950s with the construction of the Whitney Dam. This massive project was part of a broader initiative to control flooding and provide hydroelectric power in the region. As the dam neared completion, the rising waters gradually submerged Towash, erasing it from the landscape and displacing its residents. The transformation created a reservoir that would serve the needs of Texans but at the cost of submerging history.
Today, Towash exists only in memories and historical records, with its remnants hidden deep under Lake Whitney. The submerged town has become a point of interest for historians and adventurers alike—some drawn by the stories of old buildings and structures that lie beneath the surface, others by the eerie allure of exploring a drowned world. Yet, despite its inaccessibility, the legacy of Towash continues to ripple through the local lore, reminding us of the communities that sacrificed their existence for the development of modern infrastructure.
Exploring the story of Towash offers a poignant glimpse into the often-overlooked consequences of human progress and the hidden histories that lie submerged in the depths of America’s lakes.
