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Laurel

Ghost town · Santa Cruz County, California

Los Gatos quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1919, 1:62,500)
Los Gatos quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1919, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Laurel is a ghost town in Santa Cruz County, California. It is one of 17 former communities in Santa Cruz County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 16th among the 58 California counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Laurel as a historical populated place: 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 37.1167° N, 121.9653° W.

Key facts

Nearest living townLexington Hills, CA
Distance to it3.2 miles
Coordinates37.11667, -121.96528

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Laurel is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Lexington Hills, CA (population 2,777), about 3.2 miles away in a straight line. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Images

Laurel Historical Marker.
Laurel Historical Marker. · Cloudswrest / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Laurel?

Laurel is in Santa Cruz County, California, at 37.1167, -121.9653.

How many ghost towns are in Santa Cruz County?

Santa Cruz County, California has 17 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.