Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Juniata Woolen Mill and Newry Manor, the Bridge in Snake Spring Township and the Defibaugh Tavern. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1900 on.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Snake Spring Township is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Pennsylvania towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Pennsylvania town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Snake Spring Township’s 26.3 sits above most of its state (83% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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.
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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Snake Spring Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Snake Spring Township. 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 Snake Spring Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Snake Spring Township.
The Defibaugh Tavern, Bridge in Snake Spring Township, and Juniata Woolen Mill and Newry Manor are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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 archiveJuniata Woolen Mill and Newry ManorOne decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2024US 30 eb in Snake Spring Twp., PA (1), May 2024
2015Senic Route late December - panoramio (82)
2015Route 30 - panoramio (4)
2015Route 30 - panoramio (19)
2015Route 30 - panoramio (18)
2015Route 30 - panoramio (15)
2015Route 30 - panoramio (13)
2015Route 30 - panoramio (12)
2015Route 30 - panoramio (11)
2015Route 30 - panoramio (10)
2013DEFIBAUGH TAVERN, BEDFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIAThe 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.
Nobody well known was born in Snake Spring Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Snake Spring Township is more historic than 70% 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.
Three places: the Juniata Woolen Mill and Newry Manor (listed 1983), the Bridge in Snake Spring Township (1988) and the Defibaugh Tavern (1992).
10% of Snake Spring Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
