Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Grimesland was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Its Register listing is the Grimesland Plantation. Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1900.
The Grimesland post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Boyds Ferry (1853), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Grimesland’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Grimesland.
Grimesland was named for Gen. Bryan Grimes. The town was laid out on Grimes' plantation.
Grimesland Plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grimesland. 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 Grimesland.
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.
Between 277 and 469 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grimesland’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Grimesland itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Grimesland’s post office has been open since 1871. Another post office, Boyds Ferry, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Grimesland post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Grimesland Plantation (listed 1971).
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 (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.
