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Big Brushy

Ghost town · Rowan County, Kentucky

Cranston quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1951, 1:24,000)
Cranston quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1951, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Big Brushy is a ghost town in Rowan County, Kentucky. It is one of 3 former communities in Rowan County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 78th among the 101 Kentucky counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Big Brushy as a historical populated place on the Cranston 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 38.2614° N, 83.4914° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleCranston
Elevation870 ft
Nearest living townMorehead, KY
Distance to it5.4 miles
GNIS feature ID2127195
Coordinates38.26135, -83.49136

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Big Brushy is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Morehead, KY (population 6,924), about 5.4 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 870 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Big Brushy?

Big Brushy is in Rowan County, Kentucky, at 38.2614, -83.4914.

How many ghost towns are in Rowan County?

Rowan County, Kentucky has 3 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.