Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Bennett Hill Farm · Photo: TrudiJ · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 94% of U.S. towns · #175 of 758 in New York. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 25 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1840.
New Scotland dates its founding to 1660 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1840.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Scotland is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #175 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
New York towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New York town has 12.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so New Scotland’s 43.8 sits above most of its state (67% of New York towns have fewer) while its 40 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
New Scotland had its own post office from 1824 to 1989. Six 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Scotland’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveNew Scotland. (Township); New Salem (Village); Clarksville Business Directory; New Salem …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of New Scotland.
The town was settled around 1660. New Scotland was founded in 1832 from the west part of the town of Bethlehem.
The Bennett Hill Farm, Presbyterian Church in New Scotland and the New Scotland Cemetery, and Onesquethaw Valley Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Scotland. 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 Scotland.
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 Scotland’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.
Between 2,470 and 9,139 people in every census since 1840.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Scotland’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1660, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. New Scotland’s post office opened in 1812, and the census of 1840 counted 2,912 people here.
New Scotland is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #175 of 758 in New York. 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.
6 listings: 5 buildings and 1 historic district, the Onesquethaw Valley Historic District, with 25 contributing buildings. 40 historic buildings in all.
23% of New Scotland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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.
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