There is a place in Illinois called Vish nu springs. It used to be a small town of about 15 buildings or so. All that is left now is a dilapidated Hotel in the middle of the woods. It sold for about $200,000 to the local college there. They still have open houses about once a year talking about the history of the place. But my point is you probably could have bought it for around $200,000 up until several years ago had you wanted. So it is viable. Here's the history of this particular place:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu_Springs,_Illinois
I bet there are thousands of others like it out there in the US alone. Many with the history buried.