WayfarrowAbout the data
Wayfarrow is a reference site, not an encyclopedia. Every place page is generated from structured public records, and every fact on it names where it came from.
How a place gets a page
Ghost towns start from the U.S. Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System, which flags a populated place as historical when the community no longer exists. We keep the federal coordinates, county and map quadrangle, then match each record to Wikidata for founding and abandonment dates, peak population and the recorded cause where one exists. Lighthouses come from the Coast Guard Light List and the National Park Service inventory of historic light stations; covered bridges from the Federal Highway Administration's preservation list and the National Register of Historic Places.
What we never do
We do not copy Wikipedia text (it is licensed CC BY-SA and would need to carry that licence); we use Wikidata facts and link to Wikipedia as a source. We do not use photographs without a licence record. Dates the source marks as uncertain are shown as "approximately". Places without coordinates, at least three sourced facts and a licensed image are built but kept out of search engines until they are enriched.
Sources and licences
| U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line and ACS | public-domain · credit: U.S. Census Bureau |
|---|---|
| BLM General Land Office Records | public-domain · credit: Bureau of Land Management, GLO Records |
| Chronicling America (Library of Congress) | public-domain · credit: Library of Congress, Chronicling America |
| USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection | public-domain · credit: U.S. Geological Survey |
| USDA NAIP aerial imagery | public-domain · credit: USDA Farm Service Agency, NAIP |
| Library of Congress Prints and Photographs (FSA/OWI, HABS/HAER) | public-domain · credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| USCG Light List | public-domain · credit: U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center |
| NPS Inventory of Historic Light Stations | public-domain · credit: National Park Service |
| National Register of Historic Places | public-domain · credit: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places |
| USCG Historian's Office photo collection | public-domain · credit: U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office |
| NOAA Photo Library | public-domain · credit: NOAA |
| FHWA National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation program | public-domain · credit: Federal Highway Administration |
| Wikimedia Commons | varies · credit: per image (CC BY / CC BY-SA / CC0 / PD), attribution rendered |
| USGS Geographic Names Information System (Domestic Names) | public-domain · credit: U.S. Geological Survey, GNIS |
| Wikidata | CC0 · credit: Wikidata contributors |
| Wayfarrow status check (web sources) | facts · credit: cited per place |
Corrections
Found an error? Email [email protected] with the page URL and the source for the correction.