It sits at the intersection of Scottsville-Mumford Road and Union Street in the Town of Wheatland in Monroe County, New York, United States.

In its 19th-Century prime, Garbutt boasted a train station and rail yard, service by two railroad companies, several industrial plants, a hotel, two schools, a church, mines, three Oatka Creek bridges, a dam and millpond, a barrel factory, and a number of general stores.

Yet, as long ago as 1937, it was said, "Garbutt is a hamlet so small that it would scarcely be noticed in passing were it not for the large buildings of the Empire Gypsum Company.

While out of sight, the biggest legacy of Garbutt's past is the network of mines not far beneath the surface, extending an unknown distance beyond the locations of the erstwhile factories.

In 2016, Kevin D. Williamson, writing in the National Review criticized small towns such as Garbutt; he wrote that such "dysfunctional, downscale communities ... deserve to die.