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History · Heathsville

Heathsville’s post office opened in 1836, and 53% of its homes were built before 1940

9 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 81 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1917 on, and the census since 1980.

1836first post office
9on the National Register
53%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Heathsville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Heathsville began

When was Heathsville founded?

1836

The Heathsville post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 185 in 19802020 census: 136190 years
Founding year: the first Heathsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Heathsville’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A historic districtThe Heathsville Historic District takes in 81 historic buildings.Old housesHalf of Heathsville’s homes were built before 1938.Landmarks on the Register9 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Heathsville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRice's Hotel: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

9 listings protect 93 historic buildings

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

places listed
9
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
93
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Springfield
SpringfieldSt. Stephen's ChurchHeathsville Historic DistrictKirkland Grove CampgroundRice's HotelCoan Baptist ChurchSunnysideAcademy, TheOakley
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Federal7
Greek Revival3
Carpenter Gothic1
Vernacular1
Gothic Revival1
Italianate1
SpringfieldFederal
St. Stephen's ChurchCarpenter Gothic
Heathsville Historic DistrictVernacular
Kirkland Grove CampgroundBuilding
Rice's HotelFederal
Coan Baptist ChurchFederal
SunnysideFederal
Academy, TheFederal
All 9 listings
OakleyBuilding · listed 1999

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

The story

How Heathsville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Heathsville.

Read it all →

In 1679, the county justices of Northumberland County sought to move their courthouse from the Hull Neck area to a more central locale in the county. To that end, local officials signed a contract with John Hughlett in 1680 to build a court house and attached prison upon "Mr. Hughlett's Indian Field," the future site of Heathsville. The court house would be completed the following year.

For most of its early history, Heathsville remained a small hamlet, with fewer than 12 buildings through the American Revolutionary War. These buildings were small, poorly maintained wooden homes that one 1784 court order described as a "public nuisance."

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Heathsville, 1836 to 1917

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1836Post officeThe Heathsville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900In the archiveRice's Hotel
  5. 1917On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Heathsville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Rice's Hotel1900Rice's Hotel
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today2 recent
Heathsville post office 224732017Heathsville post office 224732017-07-05 08 59 42 View south along Virginia State Route 201 (Courthouse Road) at Hill Valley Lane in20172017-07-05 08 59 42 View south along Virginia State R…
On the map

Heathsville on the map, 1917 to 1962

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

Heathsville on the 1917 USGS mapHeathsville on the 1944 USGS mapHeathsville on the 1953 USGS mapHeathsville on the 1962 USGS map1917Heathsville 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 Heathsville.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Rice's Hotel
Retake this viewRice's Hotel, 1900

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Heathsville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Heathsville, census by census

0100200198020002020Peak: 185

Between 127 and 185 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Heathsville’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Heathsville’s history

What year was Heathsville founded?

The Heathsville post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Heathsville?

9 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Springfield (listed 1979, the first), and 1 historic district, the Heathsville Historic District, with 81 contributing buildings. 93 historic buildings in all.

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 (2), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (9), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.