Shady Grove
Ghost town · Colbert County, Alabama

Shady Grove is a ghost town in Colbert County, Alabama. It is one of 27 former communities in Colbert County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 5th among the 53 Alabama counties with a vanished settlement on record.
The U.S. Geological Survey lists Shady Grove as a historical populated place on the Town Creek 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 34.7334° N, 87.4417° W.
Key facts
| USGS quadrangle | Town Creek |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 539 ft |
| Nearest living town | Town Creek, AL |
| Distance to it | 4.7 miles |
| GNIS feature ID | 133025 |
| Coordinates | 34.73342, -87.44169 |
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.

Left: Town Creek quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1936, 1:24,000), 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
Shady Grove is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Town Creek, AL (population 1,015), about 4.7 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 539 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
- Rocky Hillghost town · Lawrence County · 5.6 mi
- Belleviewghost town · Lauderdale County · 5.7 mi
- Beach Groveghost town · Lauderdale County · 7.5 mi
- Davidsons Cross Roadsghost town · Colbert County · 7.8 mi
- Campbell Settlementghost town · Colbert County · 8.4 mi
- La Grangeghost town · Colbert County · 8.4 mi
- Marmionghost town · Lauderdale County · 8.5 mi
- Bainbridgeghost town · Colbert County · 9.6 mi
- Kingmanghost town · Lauderdale County · 9.6 mi
- Mount Pleasantghost town · Colbert County · 9.7 mi
- Poplar Creekghost town · Colbert County · 10.1 mi
- Masonvilleghost town · Lauderdale County · 10.3 mi
Questions
Where is Shady Grove?
Shady Grove is in Colbert County, Alabama, at 34.7334, -87.4417.
How many ghost towns are in Colbert County?
Colbert County, Alabama has 27 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.
- USGS Geographic Names Information System (Domestic Names) — GNIS Domestic Names, feature record (public-domain)
- U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line and ACS — Census Gazetteer + ACS 5-year population (public-domain)
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.