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Woodstock NHPhoto: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0
BHistory
History · Woodstock

Woodstock dates to 1763, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 64% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1928 on, and the census since 1840.

1763founded
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
11old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Woodstock’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Woodstock began

When was Woodstock founded?

1763

Woodstock dates its founding to 1763 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1840.

First census: 472 in 18402020 census: 1,434263 years

How historic is Woodstock?

B

More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1819.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Woodstock’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Woodstock is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Woodstock’s overall grade.
Founding era1763, from Wikidata: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA+Homes built before 194016.7% of homes (±6.0) · typical NH town 17.5% · U.S. 8.4%BNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical NH town 9.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 64%
NewerOlder

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 Woodstock’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (8% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1763.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.0 points).

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 →

What stands out about Woodstock’s past

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

Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1910 and 1920, then more than doubled.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Woodstock, and 4 old place names are still on the map.Older than the countryEstablished in 1763, 13 years before the Declaration of Independence.
★ What stands out · People over time

Woodstock, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,60018501900195020001,083 in 1910Low: 684

Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1920, then more than doubled.

19 censuses, 1840–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Woodstock had its own post office from 1840 to 1959. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Peeling
1819–1840
West Thornton
1828–1962
Woodstock
1840–1959
North Woodstock
1858–today
Fairview
1892–1933
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
FairviewLost RiverNorth WoodstockWest Thornton
Gone or out of use
Camp Number 2localeCamp Number 5localeJackman CamplocaleNorth Woodstock Civilian Conservation Corps CamplocaleRussell Farmlocale

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

Woodstock, 1763 to 2020

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1763
    FoundingWoodstock is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1819Post officeThe Peeling post office opens
  5. 1828Post officeThe West Thornton post office opens
  6. 1840Post officeThe Peeling post office closes
  7. 1840Post officeThe Woodstock post office opens
  8. 1898In the archiveNorth from Fairview Hotel, North Woodstock, N. H
  9. 20th century
  10. 1908In the archiveDeer Park Hotel & Depot, North
  11. 1910In the archiveStreet Scene, North
  12. 1928On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  13. 1930In the archiveClimax Geared Locomotive (88907)
  14. 1959Post officeThe Woodstock post office closes
  15. 1962Post officeThe West Thornton post office closes
  16. 1995In the archiveClark's Trading Post, North
  17. 21st century
  18. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 1,434
The story

How Woodstock came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Woodstock.

Read it all →

First granted in 1763, colonial Governor Benning Wentworth named the town "Peeling" after an English town. Many of the first colonists were originally from Lebanon, Connecticut. In 1771, his nephew, Governor John Wentworth, gave it the name "Fairfield", after Fairfield, Connecticut. The town was renamed "Woodstock" in 1840 for Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, possibly due to the popularity of the 1826 Walter Scott novel Woodstock.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Woodstock, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1910s9 items
North from Fairview Hotel, North Woodstock, N. H1898North from Fairview Hotel, North Woodstock, N. HPostcardThe Mummies, North Woodstock, N. H1898The Mummies, North Woodstock, N. HPostcardView north from Harrington, North Woodstock, N. H1898View north from Harrington, North Woodstock, N. HPostcardDeer Park Hotel & Depot, Northc. 1908Deer Park Hotel & Depot, NorthPostcardStreet Scene, Northc. 1910Street Scene, NorthPostcardFairview House, Northc. 1914Fairview House, NorthPostcardWoodstock Lumber Company's Millc. 1915Woodstock Lumber Company's MillPostcardMain Street, North1916Main Street, NorthPostcardWoodstock Street, Woodstock, New Hampshire by Alexander Robertson James1917Woodstock Street, Woodstock, New Hampshire by Alexand…
1930s1 item
Climax Geared Locomotive (88907)c. 1930Climax Geared Locomotive (88907)Postcard
1940s–1980snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1990s1 item
Clark's Trading Post, North1995Clark's Trading Post, North
Today13 recent
Granite State Railway (P&L) Cab Car 1004 "Mountain View" in2025Granite State Railway (P&L) Cab Car 1004 "Mountain Vi…Allen Hollis Bridge2025Allen Hollis BridgeWoodstock Inn Brewery New Hampshire2021Woodstock Inn Brewery New HampshireUnited States Post Office, North2021United States Post Office, NorthUSGS Station ID 01075000 Pemigewasset River high-water mark monument2021USGS Station ID 01075000 Pemigewasset River high-wate…Lost River Gorge, New Hampshire ^1 - Flickr - ~jar()2015Lost River Gorge, New Hampshire ^1 - Flickr - ~jar()Lost River Gorge waterfall and platform2015Lost River Gorge waterfall and platformView from Styles Bridges Hwy2013View from Styles Bridges HwyStyles Bridges Hwy, Woodstock (494199)2013Styles Bridges Hwy, Woodstock (494199)Pemigewassett River, Nr Eastside Rd2013Pemigewassett River, Nr Eastside RdPemigewassett River, Nr Eastside Rd, Woodstock - panoramio (1)2013Pemigewassett River, Nr Eastside Rd, Woodstock - pano…Woodstock NH2011Woodstock NHWoodstock Police Department, NH2007Woodstock Police Department, NH
On the map

Woodstock on the map, 1928 to 1995

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

Woodstock on the 1928 USGS mapWoodstock on the 1931 USGS mapWoodstock on the 1980 USGS mapWoodstock on the 1995 USGS map1928Plymouth 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 Woodstock.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

North from Fairview Hotel, North Woodstock, N. H
Retake this viewNorth from Fairview Hotel, North Woodstock, N. H, 1898

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Woodstock’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Woodstock’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
4 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewNorth from Fairview Hotel, North Woodst…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

BentonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townThorntonIts storyB−

Questions about Woodstock’s history

What year was Woodstock founded?

In 1763, according to Wikidata. Woodstock’s post office opened in 1819, and the census of 1840 counted 472 people here.

How does Woodstock rank for history?

Woodstock is more historic than 64% 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 Woodstock?

17% of Woodstock’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1983.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (24), 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.