Wayfarrow

Clay

Ghost town · Shelby County, Tennessee

Bartlett quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1960, 1:62,500)
Bartlett quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1960, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Clay is a ghost town in Shelby County, Tennessee. It is one of 13 former communities in Shelby County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 16th among the 86 Tennessee counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Clay as a historical populated place on the Ellendale 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 35.1476° N, 89.8179° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleEllendale
Elevation327 ft
Nearest living townGermantown, TN
Distance to it5 miles
GNIS feature ID1313572
Coordinates35.14759, -89.81786

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Clay is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Germantown, TN (population 40,812), about 5 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 327 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Clay?

Clay is in Shelby County, Tennessee, at 35.1476, -89.8179.

How many ghost towns are in Shelby County?

Shelby County, Tennessee has 13 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.