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History · Cana

Cana’s post office opened in 1881

Most of Cana was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1957 on.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Idawriter · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Cana began

When was Cana founded?

1881

The Cana post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Saint Paul (1875), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 1,243145 years
Founding year: the first Cana post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Cana’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Cana are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cana’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cana’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Cana, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cana yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Cana () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Carroll County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, Cana had a population of 1,243. It is the only CDP designated area in the county that is outside of the Appalachian Mountains in the Virginia Piedmont .

Its first post office opened in 1881. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,254 in 2010, 1,243 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Cana, 1875 to 1971

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Saint Paul post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Saint Paul post office closes
  4. 1881Post officeThe Cana post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1957On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1971Born hereTim Brown is born here
By decade

Cana, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Lucky Horseshoe Lottery2016Lucky Horseshoe Lottery
On the map

Cana on the map, 1957 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cana. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Cana on the 1957 USGS mapCana on the 1968 USGS mapCana on the 1976 USGS mapCana on the 1985 USGS map1957Mount Airy sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cana.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Cana’s post office has been open since 1881. Another post office, Saint Paul, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Saint Paul
1875–1881
Cana
1881–today
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Dowells Grove Churchchurch
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cana
CanaEpworthOak RidgeRocky FordSaint PaulWisler

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Cana’s history

What year was Cana founded?

The Cana post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.