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Big Cowan

Ghost town · Letcher County, Kentucky

Whitesburg quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1915, 1:62,500)
Whitesburg quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1915, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Big Cowan is a ghost town in Letcher County, Kentucky. It is one of 21 former communities in Letcher County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 22nd among the 101 Kentucky counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Big Cowan as a historical populated place on the Whitesburg 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 37.0670° N, 82.8581° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleWhitesburg
Elevation1,353 ft
Nearest living townWhitesburg, KY
Distance to it4 miles
GNIS feature ID2336252
Coordinates37.06698, -82.85808

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Big Cowan is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Whitesburg, KY (population 1,998), about 4 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 1,353 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Big Cowan?

Big Cowan is in Letcher County, Kentucky, at 37.0670, -82.8581.

How many ghost towns are in Letcher County?

Letcher County, Kentucky has 21 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.