Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Zeete · CC BY-SA 4.01 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and old-book passages.
The New Vernon post office opened in 1808, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Vernon. 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 New Vernon.
From Wikipedia’s history of New Vernon.
Abraham Canfield moved to the area c. 1740 and established a country store, blacksmith shop, and cider mill. The community was first called "New Vernon" in a newspaper printed in 1808 at Morristown. The New Vernon Presbyterian Church was established in 1833.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveH.D. Sheldon, residence in New Vernon, New Jersey. LOC gsc.5a30078
In the archiveDr. and Mrs. B.F. Swain, residence on Village Road, New Vernon, New Jersey. LOC gsc.5a270…Passages that mention New Vernon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The bell bore the impress of the British crown and the name of the makers — “Lister and Pack of London fecit.” The bell was recast about i860, and again about 1905, and still rings out the call to worship. The vane of the steeple was taken down and given to the old academy at New Vernon. In 1774 the congregation had so increased in size that the building was enlarged. During the Revolution the church was used as an army hospital, and further enlargement being necessary, soon afterward it was directed at a parish meeting held October 8, to build a new church. Work was com-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Abraham Canfield was a blacksmith, and carried on at New Vernon the business of working in iron. In fact he was a manufacturer in the broadest sense, for he sent his own pack animals to the iron mines in the vicinity of Dover, brought down the iron ore and manufactured it into the iron which he used. He also kept a country store. He a.ssisted in his day to build a suitable house for an academy at New Vernon, where was long kept up
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1938H.D. Sheldon, residence in New Vernon, New Jersey. LO…
1938H.D. Sheldon, residence in New Vernon, New Jersey. LO…1959Dr. and Mrs. B.F. Swain, residence on Village Road, N…
1959Dr. and Mrs. B.F. Swain, residence on Village Road, N…
1959Dr. and Mrs. B.F. Swain, residence on Village Road, N…
1959Dr. and Mrs. B.F. Swain, residence on Village Road, N…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 New Vernon’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
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.
The New Vernon post office opened in 1808, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
