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C−History
History · Darnestown

Darnestown’s post office opened in 1824

More historic than 25% of U.S. towns · #158 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it

Most of Darnestown was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1880.

1824first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
11old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Darnestown’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Darnestown began

When was Darnestown founded?

1824

The Darnestown post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name. Seven smaller post offices, Darnes (1804), Middlebrook Mills (1810) and Barnestown (1818), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,658 in 18802020 census: 6,723202 years

How historic is Darnestown?

C−

More historic than 25% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Darnestown post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Darnestown’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Darnestown is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #158 of 261 in Maryland. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Darnestown’s overall grade.
Founding era1824, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19400.0% of homes (±0.8) · typical MD town 3.3% · U.S. 8.4%D−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MD town 0.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 25%
NewerOlder
Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)Ahead of 40%

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 Darnestown’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (20% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C+. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 →

What stands out about Darnestown’s past

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

Lost villages7 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Darnestown, and 28 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19086 editions of the USGS map, 1908 to 1994. Watch Darnestown change.Deep rootsA post office since 1824: 202 years of Darnestown.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Darnestown had its own post office from 1824 to 1911. Seven other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Darnes
1804–1824
Middlebrook Mills
1810–1857
Barnestown
1818–1830
Seneca Mills
1819–1832
Darnestown
1824–1911
Rushville
1832–1838
Seneca Mills
1850–1854
Seneca
1870–1954
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Ancient OakAncient Oak NorthAncient Oak WestBlackrock MillBondbrookBrookmeadBrookmead NorthBrowns CornerDarnestown HillsDarnestown KnollsDeakins RangeHarlowHartley Hall EstatesHarvest Hunt FarmHighlands of DarnestownMitchells RangePioneer HillsQuail RunRidgeland Farm EstatesRive Gauche EstatesRiverwoodRushvilleSenecaSeneca Highlands
Gone or out of use
Andrew Small Male and Female Academyschool
1cemetery inside Darnestown
Darnestown Presbyterian Church

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Darnestown on the map, 1908 to 1994

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

Darnestown on the 1908 USGS mapDarnestown on the 1944 USGS mapDarnestown on the 1952 USGS mapDarnestown on the 1968 USGS mapDarnestown on the 1980 USGS mapDarnestown on the 1994 USGS map1908Seneca 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 Darnestown.

Timeline

Darnestown, 1804 to 1999

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1804Post officeThe Darnes post office opens
  3. 1810Post officeThe Middlebrook Mills post office opens
  4. 1818Post officeThe Barnestown post office opens
  5. 1824Post officeThe Darnes post office closes
  6. 1830Post officeThe Barnestown post office closes
  7. 1841In the archivePoolesville-Darnestown-Rockville MD 1841
  8. 1857Post officeThe Middlebrook Mills post office closes
  9. 1863In the archiveMontgomery County MD 1862
  10. 1878In the archiveAtlas of fifteen miles around Washington, including the County of Prince George, Maryland
  11. 20th century
  12. 1908On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  13. 1911In the archivePennyfield Obit Cropped
  14. 1936In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, Photographer September 4, 1936 2-20 …
  15. 1999In the archive[Water Runoff 2] 412-DSP-2-Runoff 050
The story

How Darnestown came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Darnestown.

Read it all →

The first European (mostly Scottish and English) settlements in what would become Montgomery County, Maryland, were established in 1688, near Rock Creek and what was to become Rockville. The next stage of settlements was further west along the Potomac River near what is now Darnestown and Poolesville. The land had been occupied by Native Americans of the Piscataway Confederation. Ninian Beall was the first European landowner in the Darnestown area, settling around 1749. His daughter Ruth Beall married Charles Gassaway, who built a brick home named Pleasant Hills around 1765. This was one of the first brick homes in what is now Montgomery County, and still stands today. Gassaway purchased land from his father-in-law during the late 1700s—including land that would eventually become the Darnestown village. In the last half of the 18th century, a small village grew at the intersection of wh…

ChaptersHistoric places

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Darnestown, decade by decade

6 decades in the archive, from the 1840s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1840s–1870s7 items
Poolesville-Darnestown-Rockville MD 18411841Poolesville-Darnestown-Rockville MD 1841Montgomery County MD 18621863Montgomery County MD 1862Darnestown area 18651865Darnestown area 1865Darnestown-Seneca 18651865Darnestown-Seneca 1865Atlas of fifteen miles around Washington, including the County of Prince George, Maryland1878Atlas of fifteen miles around Washington, including t…MapAtlas of fifteen miles around Washington, including the county of Montgomery, Maryland1879Atlas of fifteen miles around Washington, including t…MapDarnestown MD 18781879Darnestown MD 1878
1910s–1930s3 items
Pennyfield Obit Cropped1911Pennyfield Obit CroppedHistoric American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, Photographer September 4, 1936 2-20 P. M. VIEW FROM NORTHWEST (fro…1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, Photographer September 4, 1936 2-25 P. M. VIEW FROM SOUTH. - Pleas…1936Historic American Buildings Survey John O. Brostrup, …
1940s–1980snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1990s1 item
[Water Runoff 2] 412-DSP-2-Runoff 0501999[Water Runoff 2] 412-DSP-2-Runoff 050
Today7 recent
Black Rock Mill entrance2020Black Rock Mill entranceBlack Mill side view2020Black Mill side viewDierssen WMA, West Impoundment2015Dierssen WMA, West ImpoundmentOur Lady of the Visitation Church2014Our Lady of the Visitation ChurchDarnestownAndSeneca2011DarnestownAndSenecaDarnestown CDP MD2011Darnestown CDP MDDarnestown, MD farm panorama2010Darnestown, MD farm panorama
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Poolesville-Darnestown-Rockville MD 1841
Retake this viewPoolesville-Darnestown-Rockville MD 1841, 1841

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Darnestown’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Darnestown, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,5007,0007,50018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 6,802

Between 1,489 and 6,802 people in every census since 1880.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Darnestown’s Wikipedia page.

Help out

Finish Darnestown’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPoolesville-Darnestown-Rockville MD 1841: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Travilah1 historic placeC−Germantown2 historic placesB−North PotomacIts storyDGaithersburg5 historic placesC+

Questions about Darnestown’s history

What year was Darnestown founded?

The Darnestown post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Darnestown rank for history?

Darnestown is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #158 of 261 in Maryland. 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.

How old are the homes in Darnestown?

0.0% of Darnestown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1984.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (18), 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.