Founding year: the first Pine Level post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Pine Level’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pine Level is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pine Level’s overall grade.
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 Pine Level’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of North Carolina 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 B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.7 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 Pine Level’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1963, Floyd G. Hinnant, Postmaster of Pine Level, wrote down his history of Pine Level:
In the days of slow transportation this little town, the third oldest in Johnston County, was a trading center for the pioneer turpentine prospectors and merchants who were obligated to feed the workers who followed those who were setting up turpentine distilleries. In 1868 two brothers, Daniel Thomas Oliver and William Berry Oliver migrated from Robinson County in the interest of turpentine, setting up a distillery. Finding the natural setting of pine trees applicable to their need and in a fairly level country, the town found its name, Pine Level.
The Pine Level post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Pine Level rank for history?
Pine Level is more historic than 35% 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.
How old are the homes in Pine Level?
17% of Pine Level’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1985.
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 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.
