Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns · #51 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Most of Nashville was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 142 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1880.
Nashville dates its founding to 1780 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Nashville is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #51 of 290 in North Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Nashville’s 257 sits above most of its state (88% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 147 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Nashville’s history is told.
Nashville’s post office has been open since 1844. Two other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Nashville.
The town was founded in 1780, and is named for Francis Nash, an officer of the North Carolina militia who died in the American Revolutionary War.
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.
Born hereHarold Dunbar Cooley is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereRoy Cooper is born here
In the archiveFEMA - 485 - Photograph by FEMA News Photo taken on 09-16-1999 in North CarolinaOne decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Nashville. 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 Nashville.
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.
1917Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Grew from 212 people in 1880 to 5,632 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Nashville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
In 1780, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Nashville’s post office opened in 1794, and the census of 1880 counted 212 people here.
Nashville is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #51 of 290 in North Carolina. 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Nash County Courthouse (listed 1979, the first), and 1 historic district, the Nashville Historic District, with 142 contributing buildings. 147 historic buildings in all.
8% of Nashville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
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