Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 150 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1898 on, and the census since 1870.
Charlestown dates its founding to 1742 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Charlestown is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
Few Maryland towns list much on the Register (a typical Maryland town has 0.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Charlestown’s 770 sits above most of its state (94% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 154 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1920, then grew 8-fold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Charlestown’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Charlestown. 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 Charlestown.
From Wikipedia’s history of Charlestown.
Charlestown is the location of Charlestown Historic District and Indian Queen Tavern and Black's Store, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Charlestown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
" At the election held at the court house there were given and published forty-three votes for Charlestown, one vote for the Head of Elk, and two votes for no removal. At the Head of Elk there were given thirty-four votes for Charlestown and two votes for the Head of Elk; and at the election held at Charlestown there were given four hundred and fifty votes for Charlestown." The great want which the people of the county experienced for a town somewhere within its
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Charlestown and Baltimore are nearly of the same age, and for a long time after the former was laid out they were rivals, and continued to be such until about the time of the Revolutionary war, when the latter, owing to the trade with the western part of the State and the superior facilities for foreign commerce, outstripped the former, and it gradually sank into obscurity and neglect. Many of the inhabitants who had '--rected substantial houses in Charlestown tore them
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born herePhilip Barton Key is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer October 1936 - Bladen St…One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…
1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…
1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…
1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…
1936Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, P…
1936Indian Queen Tavern HABS MD1No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Charlestown’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Charlestown’s post office has been open since 1776.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1742, according to Wikidata. Charlestown’s post office opened in 1776, and the census of 1870 counted 223 people here.
Charlestown is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Two places: the Indian Queen Tavern and Black's Store (listed 1975) and the Charlestown Historic District (1975).
25% of Charlestown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1994.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
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