Ludlow is an unincorporated rural hamlet

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in rural northern Harding County

Harding County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,353 people, 525 households, and 352 families residing in the county. The population density was 0.5 people per square mile . There were 804 housing units at an average density of 0.3 per square mile...

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is located on Federal Highway 85 about 12 miles north of Buffalo

Buffalo, South Dakota

Buffalo is a town in Harding County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 330 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Harding County.-History:Buffalo was established in 1909...

, the Harding County seat, and 6 miles south of the North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

 border. Although not tracked by the Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, Ludlow has been assigned the ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 of 57755. It is primarily a service center for the rural area which it occupies, offering a public school for grades K-8 and a fire department. Additional businesses in the immediate vicinity include several large cattle ranches. Medical, legal, and grocery services are absent, the nearest being in Buffalo. The city boundaries are uncertain and these organizations are apparently, from satellite map views, widely scattered around the designated town location, which is usually pinpointed at an empty highway intersection. The Population of Ludlow is 3. Ludlow also has an annual lamb barbecue

Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...

.