Painters Lick
Ghost town · Magoffin County, Kentucky

Painters Lick is a ghost town in Magoffin County, Kentucky. It is one of 7 former communities in Magoffin County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 51st among the 101 Kentucky counties with a vanished settlement on record.
The U.S. Geological Survey lists Painters Lick as a historical populated place on the Oil Springs 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 37.7892° N, 82.9699° W.
Key facts
| USGS quadrangle | Oil Springs |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 920 ft |
| Nearest living town | Salyersville, KY |
| Distance to it | 6.1 miles |
| GNIS feature ID | 2339111 |
| Coordinates | 37.78916, -82.96985 |
What's there now
Painters Lick is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Salyersville, KY (population 1,891), about 6.1 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 920 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.
Nearby places
- Lower Burning Forkghost town · Knott County · 5.8 mi
- Dixieghost town · Magoffin County · 6.3 mi
- College Heightsghost town · Magoffin County · 6.4 mi
- Lost Creekghost town · Morgan County · 7 mi
- Lower Sandlickghost town · Morgan County · 7.7 mi
- Skaggsghost town · Magoffin County · 8.2 mi
- Upper Sandlickghost town · Morgan County · 8.5 mi
- Coffee Creekghost town · Morgan County · 8.6 mi
- Rockhouseghost town · Morgan County · 10.7 mi
- Tarkilnghost town · Morgan County · 11.4 mi
- Craft Forkghost town · Magoffin County · 11.8 mi
- Upper White Oak Creekghost town · Morgan County · 13.1 mi
Questions
Where is Painters Lick?
Painters Lick is in Magoffin County, Kentucky, at 37.7892, -82.9699.
How many ghost towns are in Magoffin County?
Magoffin County, Kentucky has 7 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.