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Cowanstown

Ghost town · Johnson County, Tennessee

Butler quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1935, 1:24,000)
Butler quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1935, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Cowanstown is a ghost town in Johnson County, Tennessee. It is one of 9 former communities in Johnson County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 30th among the 86 Tennessee counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Cowanstown as a historical populated place on the Elk Mills 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 36.3090° N, 81.9360° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleElk Mills
Elevation1,953 ft
Nearest living townButler, TN
Distance to it6.5 miles
GNIS feature ID1307442
Coordinates36.30901, -81.93595

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Cowanstown is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Butler, TN (population 150), about 6.5 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 1,953 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Cowanstown?

Cowanstown is in Johnson County, Tennessee, at 36.3090, -81.9360.

How many ghost towns are in Johnson County?

Johnson County, Tennessee has 9 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.