Wayfarrow

New Brighton

Ghost town · Santa Cruz County, California

Capitola quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1912, 1:62,500)
Capitola quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1912, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

New Brighton 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 New Brighton as a historical populated place on the Soquel 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 36.9800° N, 121.9347° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleSoquel
Elevation125 ft
Nearest living townSeacliff, CA
Distance to it0.9 miles
GNIS feature ID1873045
Coordinates36.97995, -121.93468

Open the location on a map

What's there now

New Brighton is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Seacliff, CA (population 3,488), about 0.9 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 125 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is New Brighton?

New Brighton is in Santa Cruz County, California, at 36.9800, -121.9347.

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.