Spencer
Ghost town · Baxter County, Arkansas

Spencer is a ghost town in Baxter County, Arkansas. It is one of 14 former communities in Baxter County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 15th among the 74 Arkansas counties with a vanished settlement on record.
The U.S. Geological Survey lists Spencer as a historical populated place on the Norfork Dam North 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 36.2548° N, 92.2452° W.
Key facts
| USGS quadrangle | Norfork Dam North |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 436 ft |
| Nearest living town | Salesville, AR |
| Distance to it | 2.1 miles |
| GNIS feature ID | 69441 |
| Coordinates | 36.25479, -92.24516 |
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: Norfork Dam North quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1965, 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
Spencer is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Salesville, AR (population 498), about 2.1 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 436 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
- Handghost town · Baxter County · 3.2 mi
- Wakeghost town · Baxter County · 4 mi
- Coveyghost town · Baxter County · 4.5 mi
- Chastainghost town · Baxter County · 5.9 mi
- Berryghost town · Baxter County · 6.1 mi
- Huronghost town · Izard County · 10.3 mi
- Custerghost town · Baxter County · 11.3 mi
- Laytonvilleghost town · Baxter County · 11.4 mi
- Convilleghost town · Baxter County · 11.6 mi
- Casteelghost town · Baxter County · 12.8 mi
- Argosyghost town · Fulton County · 13.1 mi
- Independenceghost town · Baxter County · 14.2 mi
Questions
Where is Spencer?
Spencer is in Baxter County, Arkansas, at 36.2548, -92.2452.
How many ghost towns are in Baxter County?
Baxter County, Arkansas has 14 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.