The story
Read it all →How Belhaven came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Belhaven.
The Belhaven City Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
BHistory
History · Belhaven
Belhaven’s post office opened in 1898, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Belhaven City Hall. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1911 on, and the census since 1900.
1898first post office
1on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
4famous people
Quick answers
How Belhaven began
When was Belhaven founded?
1898
The Belhaven post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 383 in 19002020 census: 1,410128 years
How historic is Belhaven?
B
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Belhaven post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Belhaven’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Belhaven is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Belhaven’s overall grade.
Founding era1898, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194022.6% of homes (±7.9) · typical NC town 4.1% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register1 listing, 6.3 per 10,000 residents · typical NC town 12.5 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 57%
NewerOlder
North Carolina towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical North Carolina town has 12.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Belhaven’s 6.3 sits near the middle of its state (48% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.9 points). 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 Belhaven’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Belhaven’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Belhaven’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Belhaven, census by census
Peaked at 2,863 in 1910; 1,410 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Belhaven’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Belhaven on the map, 1916 to 1974
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Belhaven. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1916Belhaven sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Belhaven.
Timeline
Belhaven, 1898 to 1987
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1898Post officeThe Belhaven post office opens
- 20th century
- 1900
In the archiveHunters in eastern North Carolina - 1910Born hereHugh Butt is born here
- 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 2,863
- 1916
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1943
Born hereLittle Eva is born here - 1964Born hereDon Cox is born here
- 1987
Born hereC. J. Wilson is born here
By decade
Belhaven, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1900s1 item
1910s–1990snothing 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 albumToday11 recent
2014Old Belhaven Town Hall
2014Main Street garden
2014Free Jams at the Belhaven Mainstreet Landing
2014Belhaven Town Dock, room for all size boats
2014Belhaven Town Dock with plenty of room
2014Belhaven Mainstreet Landing
2014Belhaven Harbor Sunset
2013View of downtown
2013View of downtown Belhaven NC (cropped)
2013Belhaven Town Dock
2011US Highway 264 - North CarolinaEvery building
Belhaven, building by building, 1911
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.
1911Sheet 1 of 5BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
Retake this viewHunters in eastern North Carolina, 1900
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Belhaven’s page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
1 historic place in Belhaven
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1981
Belhaven City Hall
Buildings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →4 famous people were born in Belhaven
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Questions about Belhaven’s history
What year was Belhaven founded?
The Belhaven post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Belhaven rank for history?
Belhaven is more historic than 57% 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.
What is on the National Register in Belhaven?
One place: the Belhaven City Hall (listed 1981).
How old are the homes in Belhaven?
23% of Belhaven’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1968.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.