Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Cokesbury was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1959. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 10 buildings.
The Cokesbury post office opened in 1835, 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cokesbury’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereFrank B. Gary is born here
Born hereJohn Gary Evans is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Cokesbury.
The name "Cokesbury" is a combination of the names of two prominent bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury.
The historic village of Cokesbury and the building that housed the Masonic Female College and Cokesbury Conference School are listed together on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic district.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Cokesbury had its own post office from 1835 to 1943.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Cokesbury post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Old Cokesbury and Masonic Female College and Conference School (listed 1970).
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
