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Charleston

Ghost town · Cochise County, Arizona

Fairbank quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1932, 1:62,500)
Fairbank quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1932, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Charleston is a ghost town in Cochise County, Arizona. It is one of 15 former communities in Cochise County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 2nd among the 15 Arizona counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Charleston as a historical populated place on the Fairbank topographic quadrangle: 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 31.6358° N, 110.1725° W.

Key facts

Peak population0
Last recorded population0
USGS quadrangleFairbank
Elevation4,010 ft
Nearest living townTombstone, AZ
Distance to it8.1 miles
GNIS feature ID24360
Coordinates31.63580, -110.17250

Open the location on a map

Then and now

Drag the slider: the old USGS map on the left, the same ground from the air today on the right. Both cover the same 1.9-mile square centred on the recorded location.

Charleston today, aerial view
Fairbank quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1932, 1:62,500)

Left: Fairbank quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1932, 1:62,500), U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection. Right: The same ground today: NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, National Agriculture Imagery Program (via USGS). Both public domain.

What's there now

Charleston is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Tombstone, AZ (population 1,022), about 8.1 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 4,010 feet above sea level. The aerial view above shows what covers the ground today. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Images

Charleston, Arizona in 1885
Charleston, Arizona in 1885 · C. S. Fly / Wikimedia Commons · public-domain

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Charleston?

Charleston is in Cochise County, Arizona, at 31.6358, -110.1725.

How many ghost towns are in Cochise County?

Cochise County, Arizona has 15 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.