Promoting unincorporated towns and CDP's

[fareastsider]

In my area there are many small "hamlets" Some have a few streets with a traditional downtown of sorts and others are barely a few buildings. I was wondering if anyone ever tried to promote them as places to visit or see as ghost towns of sorts or for people seeking out that kind of small town. I personally find them very fascinating and was curious if anyone else has tried promoting them. We have a decent amount of tourism here and when things calm down I am considering some sort of way to promote these unique little crossing with the local tourism agency or other interested parties.

[Cardinal]

I have had the same idea, and not just in the rural areas. If you look at several of the western states, they have "ghost towns" that fare pretty well now as destinations for visitors. Look at St. Elmo, Colorado and Jerome, Arizona as a couple examples. But why not on the plains? (Or even the central city?) Imagine a string of full or semi-ghosts connected by a trail system on an abandoned rail bed. Stabilized ruins. Interpretive sites. Abandoned buildings converted to shelters.

[Hink]

In my area there are many small "hamlets" Some have a few streets with a traditional downtown of sorts and others are barely a few buildings. I was wondering if anyone ever tried to promote them as places to visit or see as ghost towns of sorts or for people seeking out that kind of small town. I personally find them very fascinating and was curious if anyone else has tried promoting them. We have a decent amount of tourism here and when things calm down I am considering some sort of way to promote these unique little crossing with the local tourism agency or other interested parties.

Social media and websites are cheap and easy. I would create a hamlet trail and put a map and some information together for each community and create a website. Link to it from the larger metro website or any tourism board websites.

Then social media the hell out of it through twitter, facebook, foursquare (which could be really fun for something like that), and everything in between.