Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1908.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cedar Bluff’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cedar Bluff is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cedar Bluff’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 Cedar Bluff’s 317 sits above most of its state (84% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 37 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1800.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.1 points).
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Cedar Bluff’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Cedar Bluff is a 19th-century mill town located on the banks of the Clinch River in Tazewell County, Virginia. Centered around the Old Kentucky Turnpike, a street looking much as it did when the Virginia Legislature chartered the thoroughfare in 1848, the nationally listed historic district extends from the restored old grist mill to the 1873 birthplace of Virginia Governor George C. Peery.
Cedar Bluff is the home of the Clinch Valley Blanket Mill which housed the Goodwin weavers, in operation from 1890 through World War II.
Passages that mention Cedar Bluff, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-19201920 · page 494Read the page →
Read the text
formerly stood, but where the present thrifty town of Cedar Bluff is now located. A man named Raj^ and his entire family were massacred by the Indians on the creek in 1788, or 1789; and from this incident the stream got its name. One of the springs at its head petrifies vegetable matter, such as nuts, twigs from trees, etc.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-19201920 · page 628Read the page →
Read the text
the Kentucky and Tazewell C. H. Turnpike, crossed the Dividing Ridge, and entered the Clinch Valley at the present village of Raven, in Tazewell County. He then moved up the Clinch, passing Richlands, and arrived at Cedar Bluff on the 30th of September. There he came in contact with a body of Confederates, mostly Kentuckians, who were commanded by that splendid soldier, Colonel Giltner, of Kentucky. Burbridge pressed on from Cedar Bluff toward the Salt Works, marching through the Cove, crossing Clinch
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Cedar Bluff, 1800 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1800, according to Wikidata. Cedar Bluff’s post office opened in 1908, and the census of 1920 counted 533 people here.
How does Cedar Bluff rank for history?
Cedar Bluff is more historic than 87% 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 Cedar Bluff?
Two places: the Clinch Valley Roller Mills (listed 1984) and the Old Kentucky Turnpike Historic District (1995).
How old are the homes in Cedar Bluff?
17% of Cedar Bluff’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (11), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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