Sneed

Overview

The town the tornado took

Sneed was a farming community in the flat country of northern Jackson County, about two and a half to three miles north of Swifton on what is now County Road 630, also called Sneed Road or Tavern Road. Wikipedia, in a section it flags as original research, says it was named for William Sneed, who brought his family from Illinois after the Civil War, and that its church and school stood next to each other. The 1935 USGS map still shows Sneed School by the road.

Late on April 10, 1929, a tornado that is believed to have formed south of Batesville came out of the Black River bottoms and crossed Jackson County. It was at its strongest around Pleasant Valley, known locally as Possum Trot, and Sneed, about two miles to the east. Witnesses put it at half a mile wide. The National Weather Service calls it the only documented F5 tornado in Arkansas. That rating came decades later. The Fujita scale dates from the early 1970s, and the Weather Service says the ranking rests on Fujita's study of past tornadoes and a later restudy by Thomas Grazulis. Both communities were virtually destroyed, and 23 people died. Heavy rain after the storm turned the roads to mud, and large timbers and other debris blocked them, slowing rescuers.

Some rebuilding followed. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says Sneed and Possum Trot had both become ghost towns by the 21st century. Wikipedia's undated, uncited description says all that's left is a clearing where the school and church stood. The Weather Service reports one of the storm cellars from 1929 still standing as of 2003, deteriorated, about a quarter mile north of County Road 630.

Timeline

What we know

1. After 1865William Sneed brings his family from Illinois and settles the area, in a passage Wikipedia flags as original research based on an email. The farming community takes his name.
2. UndatedWikipedia says Sneed's church and school stood side by side.
3. Apr 10, 1929A tornado, believed to have formed about 3 miles south of Batesville, crosses into Jackson County through the Black River bottoms at about 6:15 p.m. It is at its worst around Pleasant Valley, also called Possum Trot, and Sneed, about 2 miles east.
4. Apr 1929The storm kills 23 people and injures at least 59. Forty homes and 36 barns are destroyed and 40 more homes damaged. Survivors in tents are inoculated against typhoid.
5. 1935The USGS Alicia sheet still marks Sneed School by an east-west road, west of the highway and railroad.
6. From the 1970sT. Theodore Fujita, who devised the Fujita scale in the early 1970s, ranks past tornadoes, and Thomas Grazulis later restudies them. Their work is the basis for the storm's F5 rating, the Weather Service says. Nobody rated it in 1929.
7. 2003The Weather Service reports that one of the storm cellars people sheltered in still stands, deteriorated, about a quarter mile north of County Road 630.
8. 21st centurySome rebuilding follows, but by the 21st century Sneed and Possum Trot are both ghost towns.

April 10, 1929

The Sneed tornado

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says the tornado entered Jackson County at about 6:15 p.m. By the Weather Service's reconstruction it began about 3 miles south of Batesville in Independence County, crossed the Black River bottoms, likely north of Centerville, was at its strongest around Pleasant Valley and on through Sneed, then weakened and passed just south and east of Alicia in Lawrence County.

A Red Cross survey several days later counted 40 homes destroyed, 40 more damaged, 36 barns destroyed and 75 families, 450 people, affected.

People rode out the storm in storm cellars, under a road bridge, in a barn and in a chicken house. The dead numbered 23, with at least 59 injured, some of them badly. Survivors were housed in tents and inoculated against typhoid.

The 1935 Alicia sheet in the historic maps below shows the country Sneed stood in. Sneed School sits at a corner on the north side of an east-west road, with a few buildings across it. Maple Ditch is to the west, the highway and railroad are to the east, and Alicia is to the northeast. The Pleasant Valley School label is cut off at the left edge. The 1953 Memphis sheet, at a much smaller scale, names Swifton and Alicia but not Sneed.

Historic maps

Sneed on USGS maps, 1935–1953

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19351:62,50019531:250,000

Map & directions

Getting there

One route starts in downtown Newport, about 23 miles south. The other starts at the State Capitol in Little Rock and runs up I-57 and US 67 to Newport. Both finish on AR 367 north through Swifton and a short run west on County Road 630. We haven't checked the site.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

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Visitor reports

Been to Sneed?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Sneed

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Arkansas index.

• Credit12.1 mi SE · Craighead
• Davidsonville19.7 mi N · Randolph
• Buck Snort26.1 mi E · Craighead
• Moko57.7 mi NW · Fulton
• Slonikers Mill60.8 mi S · St. Francis
• Palestine63.5 mi S · St. Francis
• Chalk Bluff67.7 mi NE · Clay
• Harness72.4 mi W · Stone

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Sneed, Arkansas", retrieved October 2026: William Sneed and the name, church and school, the tornado's path, the clearing that remains (an uncited line in the article since October 2013), coordinates (GNIS has no record for this Sneed; the point sits on the Sneed School symbol of the 1935 USGS sheet). Wikipedia flags the article for possible original research; its Sneed and Swifton-morgue claims rest on an email, so we use the first only with that caveat and leave out the second.
2. National Weather Service Little Rock, "The F5 Tornado of April 10, 1929", read October 2026: location north of Swifton, County Road 630, path, F5 rating and its basis (Fujita, Grazulis), width, deaths, injuries, Red Cross damage survey, shelters, muddy and blocked roads, the storm cellar still standing as of 2003.
3. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Sneed Tornado of 1929" by Mark K. Christ, updated November 21, 2023: time the storm entered Jackson County, damage, injuries, typhoid inoculations, rebuilding, ghost-town status.
4. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Alicia 1935, 1:62,500; Memphis 1953, 1:250,000.