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C+History
History · Cave Spring

Cave Spring’s post office opened in 1847, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #110 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it

Most of Cave Spring was built recently: 0.9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Its Register listing is the Starkey School. Below: maps from 1963 on.

1847first post office
1on the National Register
0.9%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Cave Spring began

When was Cave Spring founded?

1847

The Cave Spring post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 26,755179 years

How historic is Cave Spring?

C+

More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Cave Spring post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Cave Spring’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cave Spring is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #110 of 253 in Virginia. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cave Spring’s overall grade.
Founding era1847, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19400.9% of homes (±0.5) · typical VA town 1.9% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register1 listing, 0.4 per 10,000 residents · typical VA town 3.6 · U.S. 2.4C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 40%
NewerOlder
Virginia towns of 2,500+ (253)Ahead of 57%

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 Cave Spring’s 0.4 sits near the middle of its state (36% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share (±0.5 points) is firm at this size. 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 Cave Spring’s past

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

Lost villages74 hamlets and corners are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Cave Spring are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1847: 179 years of Cave Spring.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Cave Spring had its own post office from 1847 to 1908.

Cave Spring
1847–1908
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Adam AcresAlgoma ParkArlington ForestArlington HillsBelle MeadeBerwick HeightsBeulah HeightsBrambleton CourtBridlewoodCanterbury ParkCarolyn HeightsCastle HillCastle RockCastle Rock FarmsCastle Rock WestChesterfieldCity View HeightsClearview HeightsCrescent HeightsCrest HillCrestwoodEton HillFarmingdaleFarmington
Gone or out of use
Oak Grove Churchchurch
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cave Spring
BellvueJames E DayLockett - GarstMuse

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

Help out

Start Cave Spring’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cave Spring’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
Timeline

Cave Spring, 1847 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847Post officeThe Cave Spring post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908Post officeThe Cave Spring post office closes
  5. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Cave Spring, in brief

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

Cave Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in Roanoke County, Virginia, United States. The population was 26,755 at the 2020 census. Cave Spring covers much of the area known locally as "Southwest County" which has the most affluent suburbs of Roanoke. It is part of the Roanoke metropolitan area. Roanoke County's administrative offices are in Cave Spring, though the independent city of Salem is officially the county seat. The United States Postal Service considers most of the Cave Spring area to be unincorporated Roanoke City.

Its first post office opened in 1847. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 24,922 to 26,755 (+7%).

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

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Cave Spring on the map, 1963 to 1996

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

Cave Spring on the 1963 USGS mapCave Spring on the 1970 USGS mapCave Spring on the 1984 USGS mapCave Spring on the 1996 USGS map1963Bent Mountain sheet · 1:24,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Cave Spring

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2002
Starkey School
Starkey School
Buildings
Starkey SchoolBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Cave Spring

Nobody well known was born in Cave Spring itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
John C. MatherAmerican astrophysicist and cosmologist · b. 1946
Henrietta LacksAmerican woman whose cancer cells are the sourc… · b. 1920
Henry KingAmerican film director · b. 1886
John PayneAmerican actor · b. 1912
David HuddlestonAmerican actor · b. 1930
Lynn BariAmerican actress · b. 1913
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Roanoke60 historic placesA−Salem19 historic placesA−

Questions about Cave Spring’s history

What year was Cave Spring founded?

The Cave Spring post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Cave Spring rank for history?

Cave Spring is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #110 of 253 in Virginia. 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 Cave Spring?

One place: the Starkey School (listed 2002).

How old are the homes in Cave Spring?

0.9% of Cave Spring’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1977.

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).

From the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.