Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns · #139 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Pantops Farm. Most of Pantops was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2006. Below: maps from 1935 on.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pantops is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #139 of 253 in Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Pantops’ 4.3 sits near the middle of its state (47% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pantops’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pantops yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Pantops is a census-designated place in Albemarle County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, Pantops had a population of 4,682.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
2022Shell prices 1129 Richmond Road U.S. Rte 250 Pantops …
20192019-08-08 16 00 29 View west along U.S. Route 250 (R…
20192019-06-06 14 54 25 View east along Interstate 64 at …
20162016-06-27 09 21 35 View north along Virginia State R…
20162016-06-27 07 23 41 View east along U.S. Route 250 (R…
20162016-06-27 07 16 36 View south along Virginia State R…
2013Int64eRoad-Exit124-US250Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pantops. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pantops.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Pantops itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Pantops is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #139 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.
One place: the Pantops Farm (listed 2014).
2% of Pantops’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 2006.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (7), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
