Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 15 buildings. Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1910.
The Goldston post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Goldston’s history is told.
Peaked at 416 in 1940; 234 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Goldston’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Goldston yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Goldston is a town in Chatham County, North Carolina, United States, south of Pittsboro. As of the 2020 census, Goldston had a population of 234.
Its first post office opened in 1852. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 268 to 234 (-13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Goldston.
1970Goldston sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Goldston.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Goldston itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Goldston post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Three places: the Paschal-Womble House (listed 1984), the William Alston Rives House (1985) and the Goldston Commercial Historic District (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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
