Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Tarpaulin Cove Light. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1870.
Gosnold dates its founding to 1641 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltTarpaulin Cove Light is built
In the archive'Gosnold at Cuttyhunk'
In the archiveNaushon Island
In the archive1889 StoneHouse Naushon Massachusetts byAHFolsom
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveElizabeth-isleThe first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gosnold’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gosnold. 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 Gosnold.
From Wikipedia’s history of Gosnold.
The earliest inhabitants of the Elizabeth Islands were the Wampanoag Native Americans. The tribe did not settle permanently on the Elizabeth Islands, but used them in summer for hunting, fishing, and gardening. Occasionally, arrowheads or stone tools are discovered on the islands. The islands' names come from the Wampanoag language.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Drag across each photo to compare.
c. 18652015The 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.
Peaked at 181 in 1920; 70 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gosnold’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Gosnold itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1641, according to Wikidata. Gosnold’s post office opened in 1880, and the census of 1870 counted 99 people here.
One place: the Tarpaulin Cove Light (listed 1987).
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 Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
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