Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #1 of 126 in New Hampshire. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 155 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1931 on, and the census since 1790.
Tamworth dates its founding to 1766 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tamworth is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #1 of 126 in New Hampshire. All 3 inputs put Tamworth near the top nationally; its age ranks highest.
New Hampshire towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New Hampshire town has 9.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Tamworth’s 576 sits above most of its state (97% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 166 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
Tamworth’s post office has been open since 1812. Four 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).
Lost half of its people between 1850 and 1920, then more than doubled.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Tamworth’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Tamworth.
Granted in 1766 by colonial Governor Benning Wentworth, this town was named in honor of his close friend, British Vice-Admiral Washington Shirley, Viscount Tamworth. The admiral's daughter, Selina Shirley, was instrumental in the founding of Dartmouth College. The village of Whittier, like Mount Whittier in Ossipee, is named for the poet John Greenleaf Whittier.
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 hereJonathan Philbrick Folsom is born here
In the archiveTamworth Census 1900
In the archiveChocorua Inn, Chocorua, NH
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveThe Swift River in3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Tamworth. 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 Tamworth.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Tamworth’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1766, according to Wikidata. Tamworth’s post office opened in 1812, and the first U.S. census counted 266 people here in 1790.
Tamworth is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #1 of 126 in New Hampshire. 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.
Three places: the Cook Memorial Library (listed 1980), the Capt. Enoch Remick House (1996) and the Chocorua Lake Basin Historic District (2005).
33% of Tamworth’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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) 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.
c. 1910
c. 1912
1980
