Most of Sharpsburg was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1910.
Founding year: the first Sharpsburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Sharpsburg’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sharpsburg is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sharpsburg’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 Sharpsburg’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 C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.0 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 Sharpsburg’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 2,421 in 2000; 1,697 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sharpsburg’s Wikipedia page.
The story so far
Sharpsburg, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Sharpsburg yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Sharpsburg is a town in Edgecombe, Nash, and Wilson counties, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Sharpsburg had a population of 1,697.
Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,024 to 1,697 (-16%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Sharpsburg, 1872 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sharpsburg. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1902Rocky Mount sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sharpsburg.
Questions about Sharpsburg’s history
What year was Sharpsburg founded?
The Sharpsburg post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Sharpsburg rank for history?
Sharpsburg is more historic than 17% 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 Sharpsburg?
3% of Sharpsburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.0 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1987.
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 (2), 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.
2019
2004
