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Pleasant Valley General Store, Pleasant Valley CTPhoto: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Pleasant Valley

Pleasant Valley’s post office opened in 1835, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1892 on and old-book passages.

1835first post office
0on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
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Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Pleasant Valley began

When was Pleasant Valley founded?

1835

The Pleasant Valley post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 161191 years
Founding year: the first Pleasant Valley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Pleasant Valley’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Pleasant Valley are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18924 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1984. Watch Pleasant Valley change.Deep rootsA post office since 1835: 191 years of Pleasant Valley.Old housesHalf of Pleasant Valley’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pleasant Valley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pleasant Valley’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Pleasant Valley on the map, 1892 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pleasant Valley. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Pleasant Valley on the 1892 USGS mapPleasant Valley on the 1956 USGS mapPleasant Valley on the 1971 USGS mapPleasant Valley on the 1984 USGS map1892Granby sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pleasant Valley.

The story so far

Pleasant Valley, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pleasant Valley yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Pleasant Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Barkhamsted, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, Pleasant Valley had a population of 161. It is in the southern part of the town, on the west side of the West Branch of the Farmington River. Pleasant Valley was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1835.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Pleasant Valley in 1881

Passages that mention Pleasant Valley, cut from the printed page as they were published.

About a nule above the mouth of Morgan River, on the West Branch of the Farmington River, a saw-mill was built by Eben Woodruff in 1814. Mr. Woodruff, who came to Pleasant Valley about this time, was a religious man, and has been called the fiither of Methodism in that locality. He was a very long-…
History of Litchfield county, Connecticut1881 · page 240Read the page →
Read the text

About a nule above the mouth of Morgan River, on the West Branch of the Farmington River, a saw-mill was built by Eben Woodruff in 1814. Mr. Woodruff, who came to Pleasant Valley about this time, was a religious man, and has been called the fiither of Methodism in that locality. He was a very long-bodied man, and people used to say he was taller when he sat down than when he stood up. He continued

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

By decade

Pleasant Valley, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Pleasant Valley General Store2023Pleasant Valley General StorePleasant Valley Bridge2023Pleasant Valley BridgeBarkhamsted Town Hall2023Barkhamsted Town Hall

Questions about Pleasant Valley’s history

What year was Pleasant Valley founded?

The Pleasant Valley post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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 Wikimedia Commons (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.