Most of Castlewood was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: maps from 1920 on.
The Castlewood post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Beckley's Mills (1832) and Bickley Mill (1832), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,704134 years
How historic is Castlewood?
C+
More historic than 38% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Castlewood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Castlewood’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Castlewood is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Castlewood’s overall grade.
Virginia towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Virginia town has 3.6 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Castlewood’s 22.1 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
What stands out about Castlewood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community was originally named Castle's Woods, as the land in the immediate area had once belonged to Jacob Castle, a frontiersman in the likes of Daniel Boone. Castle purchased the land from the Shawnee Indians, for very little in trade, reportedly just a "hound dog, a knife, and a shot of whiskey". As a "Long Hunter", Castle spent long periods of time in the wilderness on hunting expeditions. There he befriended the Indians that inhabited the land in the Castlewood area. He married a Shawnee woman by the name of Gliding Swan, and they produced many children. It has been said that Castle himself showed Daniel Boone the Cumberland Gap and areas west, which led to Boone's expedition and settlement of these lands. Many descendants of Castle reside in Russell County, Virginia, and the surrounding area. Castle's father, Peter Cassell, was a German emigrant to Pennsylvania who was influe…
The Castlewood post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Castlewood rank for history?
Castlewood is more historic than 38% 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.
What is on the National Register in Castlewood?
One place: the Castlerun Historic District (listed 2000).
How old are the homes in Castlewood?
5% of Castlewood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
2016