Wayfarrow

Laurel

Ghost town · Pope County, Arkansas

Treat quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1889, 1:62,500)
Treat quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1889, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Laurel is a ghost town in Pope County, Arkansas. It is one of 15 former communities in Pope County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 12th among the 74 Arkansas counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Laurel as a historical populated place on the Simpson 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 35.5229° N, 93.0252° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleSimpson
Elevation585 ft
Nearest living townHector, AR
Distance to it4.9 miles
GNIS feature ID62009
Coordinates35.52286, -93.02517

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.

Laurel today, aerial view
Treat quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1889, 1:62,500)

Left: Treat quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1889, 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

Laurel is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Hector, AR (population 377), about 4.9 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 585 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 Laurel?

Laurel is in Pope County, Arkansas, at 35.5229, -93.0252.

How many ghost towns are in Pope County?

Pope County, Arkansas has 15 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.