Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Nectar Covered Bridge. Most of Nectar was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1961 on and the census since 1980.
The Nectar post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Tidmore (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Nectar’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Nectar yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Nectar is a town in Blount County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 379.
Its first post office opened in 1902. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 345 to 379 (+10%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Nectar. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Nectar.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 238 and 379 people in every census since 1980.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Nectar’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Nectar itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Nectar had its own post office from 1902 to 1905. Another post office, Tidmore, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Nectar post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Nectar Covered Bridge (listed 1981).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
