Amateur
Ghost town · Sharp County, Arkansas

Amateur is a ghost town in Sharp County, Arkansas. It is one of 11 former communities in Sharp County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 25th among the 74 Arkansas counties with a vanished settlement on record.
The U.S. Geological Survey lists Amateur as a historical populated place on the Evening Shade 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 36.0167° N, 91.5362° W.
Key facts
| USGS quadrangle | Evening Shade |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 558 ft |
| Nearest living town | Cave City, AR |
| Distance to it | 4.8 miles |
| GNIS feature ID | 78950 |
| Coordinates | 36.01674, -91.53625 |
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.

Left: Evening Shade quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1961, 1:24,000), 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
Amateur is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Cave City, AR (population 1,930), about 4.8 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 558 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
- Balboaghost town · Sharp County · 2.3 mi
- Reedghost town · Sharp County · 7.3 mi
- Bridgeportghost town · Sharp County · 8.1 mi
- Mobleyghost town · Sharp County · 9.4 mi
- Simcoghost town · Sharp County · 10.8 mi
- Alvisghost town · Independence County · 11.5 mi
- Kings Millsghost town · Sharp County · 12.3 mi
- Loveghost town · Izard County · 12.6 mi
- Blowing Caveghost town · Independence County · 15.1 mi
- Frisbeeghost town · Lawrence County · 16.3 mi
- Lockheartghost town · Independence County · 16.6 mi
- Edmonsonghost town · Independence County · 17.9 mi
Questions
Where is Amateur?
Amateur is in Sharp County, Arkansas, at 36.0167, -91.5362.
How many ghost towns are in Sharp County?
Sharp County, Arkansas has 11 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.
- USGS Geographic Names Information System (Domestic Names) — GNIS Domestic Names, feature record (public-domain)
- U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line and ACS — Census Gazetteer + ACS 5-year population (public-domain)
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.