Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns · #238 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Navesink Light Station, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 2 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1947 on, and the census since 1900.
The Highlands post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1900.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Highlands is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #238 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
New Jersey towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New Jersey town has 3.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Highlands’ 6.6 sits near the middle of its state (62% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Highlands’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Highlands.
Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the area known today as Highlands in 1525. During the next two centuries, the Highlands area would welcome English and Dutch settlers. Even by the 20th Century, many immigrants saw the hills of the Highlands of Navesink which were almost 300 feet (91 m) above sea level.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Highlands, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The old draw on the Highlands bridge was torn down on April 25, 1892, and the railroad company at once began building the new draw. The railroad bridge has been built across the river diagonally, crossing the wagon bridge near the Middletown side and the draw will be a little east of the old draw. The channel has shifted a little and the draw was changed accordingly. The railroad will build a bulkhead, and will fill in the river between the old wagon
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
“The Mayor and Council of the Borough of Highlands passed an ordinance granting the company a franchise in that borough Monday evening. As published previously the plans of the company is to construct their tracks on the hill at a point near the railroad station. At the meeting of the Mayor and Council they requested an additional line from that point through the borough to a point near the Water Witch Station. The officials of the Traction Com-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Navesink Bridge Company, opened bridge at Highlands, 1878, organization of, 1878, Navesink Highlands, geographical description of, description of, seen by Henry Hudson, 1609, terminus of the Minisink Trail, reference to, as Rensslaer Point, (footnote),
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveView near Fort Montgomery
BuiltNavesink Light Station is built
BuiltTwin Lights is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereBryan Johnson is born here
Born hereJason Mewes is born here
In the archiveThe Navesink Twin Lights is situated 200 feet above sea level2 decades in the archive, from the 1820s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Highlands. 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 Highlands.
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 Highlands’ page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,228 and 5,187 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Highlands’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Highlands’s post office has been open since 1871.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Highlands post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1900.
Highlands is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #238 of 468 in New Jersey. 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.
Two places: the Navesink Light Station (listed 2006) and the Twin Lights (1970).
21% of Highlands’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey 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 the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2017
2017
