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Mathews

Ghost town · Lauderdale County, Alabama

Iuka quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1911, 1:62,500)
Iuka quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1911, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Mathews is a ghost town in Lauderdale County, Alabama. It is one of 38 former communities in Lauderdale County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 2nd among the 53 Alabama counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Mathews as a historical populated place on the Waterloo 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 34.9437° N, 88.0639° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleWaterloo
Elevation462 ft
Nearest living townWaterloo, AL
Distance to it1.8 miles
GNIS feature ID142098
Coordinates34.94370, -88.06392

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.

Mathews today, aerial view
Iuka quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1911, 1:62,500)

Left: Iuka quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1911, 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

Mathews is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Waterloo, AL (population 92), about 1.8 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 462 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.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Mathews?

Mathews is in Lauderdale County, Alabama, at 34.9437, -88.0639.

How many ghost towns are in Lauderdale County?

Lauderdale County, Alabama has 38 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 2026-11-06.