Hanton City, Rhode Island

Hanton City (known locally as Lost City) is a colonial era ghost town in Smithfield, Rhode Island, United States.

The remains of Hanton City consist of several stone foundations, a burial site, a defunct dam apparently used for irrigation, and a dilapidated scattering of stone walls, typifying it as a standard small New England farming community. The entire site is completely overgrown, making it nearly impossible to locate when any vegetation is present.

At the time of its habitation, the small settlement was extremely isolated from the main town of Smithfield. For this reason, several theories have been posited in regards to its raison d'être.

The first theory is that the residents of Hanton City were a small band of runaway slaves united to live in secrecy in the wilds of then extremely rural Smithfield. This theory seems unlikely given the logistics of a renegade group of people's ability to procure the building materials and basic supplies needed to create even the most rudimentary settlement (let alone the outside goods required to maintain day-to-day life).