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Martinsville

Ghost town · Knott County, Kentucky

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

Martinsville is a ghost town in Knott County, Kentucky. It is one of 18 former communities in Knott County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 27th among the 101 Kentucky counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Martinsville as a historical populated place on the Kite 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 37.2876° N, 82.8107° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleKite
Elevation1,395 ft
Nearest living townPippa Passes, KY
Distance to it4.7 miles
GNIS feature ID2120788
Coordinates37.28764, -82.81074

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.

Martinsville today, aerial view
Hindman quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1915, 1:62,500)

Left: Hindman quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1915, 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

Martinsville is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Pippa Passes, KY (population 472), about 4.7 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 1,395 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 Martinsville?

Martinsville is in Knott County, Kentucky, at 37.2876, -82.8107.

How many ghost towns are in Knott County?

Knott County, Kentucky has 18 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 2026-11-06.