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History · Seagrove

Seagrove’s post office opened in 1897

Most of Seagrove was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Below: maps from 1973 on and the census since 1920.

1897first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Seagrove began

When was Seagrove founded?

1897

The Seagrove post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 189 in 19202020 census: 235129 years
Founding year: the first Seagrove post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Seagrove’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Seagrove are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 354 in 1970; 235 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Seagrove’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Seagrove’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Seagrove, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 354

Peaked at 354 in 1970; 235 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Seagrove’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Seagrove came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Seagrove.

Read it all →

Seagrove was named for Edwin G. Seagraves, a railroad official who was responsible for routing a railroad through the area. According to local sources, after a unanimous decision to name the station after Seagraves, the town name resulted from a sign painter running out of space and simply dropping the 's' from the end of the name. Also, the painter misspelled Seagraves as Seagrove. The railroad served Seagrove until December 31, 1951. The old train depot later was adapted as a pottery museum.

ChaptersPlank RoadSeagrove SchoolPotteryPinto Beans

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Seagrove, 1897 to 1973

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1897Post officeThe Seagrove post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 354
  5. 1973On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Seagrove, decade by decade

Today10 recent
ML Owens Teapot2025ML Owens TeapotSeagrove, North Carolina2019Seagrove, North CarolinaSeagrove NC sign2016Seagrove NC signNC Pottery Center2016NC Pottery CenterDowntown Seagrove 32016Downtown Seagrove 3Downtown Seagrove 22016Downtown Seagrove 2Downtown Seagrove 12016Downtown Seagrove 1Pottery display at the North Carolina Pottery Center2013Pottery display at the North Carolina Pottery CenterNorth Carolina Pottery Center2008North Carolina Pottery CenterLuck's Cannery in2008Luck's Cannery in
On the map

Seagrove on the map, 1973 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Seagrove. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Seagrove on the 1973 USGS mapSeagrove on the 1994 USGS map1973Seagrove sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Seagrove.

Questions about Seagrove’s history

What year was Seagrove founded?

The Seagrove post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (10), 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.