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Shaw

Ghost town · Craighead County, Arkansas

Marked Tree quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1941, 1:62,500)
Marked Tree quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1941, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Shaw is a ghost town in Craighead County, Arkansas. It is one of 14 former communities in Craighead County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 17th among the 74 Arkansas counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Shaw as a historical populated place on the Rivervale 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 35.7301° N, 90.3668° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleRivervale
Elevation224 ft
Nearest living townCaraway, AR
Distance to it3.3 miles
GNIS feature ID67181
Coordinates35.73008, -90.36677

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.

Shaw today, aerial view
Marked Tree quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1941, 1:62,500)

Left: Marked Tree quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1941, 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

Shaw is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Caraway, AR (population 1,078), about 3.3 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 224 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 Shaw?

Shaw is in Craighead County, Arkansas, at 35.7301, -90.3668.

How many ghost towns are in Craighead County?

Craighead County, Arkansas has 14 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.