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History · Parksley

Parksley’s post office opened in 1884, and 53% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1942 on, and the census since 1920.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
53%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Pi.1415926535 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Parksley began

When was Parksley founded?

1884

The Parksley post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1885.

First census: 601 in 19202020 census: 816142 years
Founding year: the first Parksley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1885.The full story ↓

What stands out about Parksley’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.Old housesHalf of Parksley’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Parksley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Parksley’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 viewConfederate Memorial: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Parksley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Parksley.

Read it all →

The history of Parksley is directly tied to the arrival of the New York, Philadelphia, and Norfolk [NYP&N] Railroad on Virginia's Eastern Shore in the mid-1880s. When the rail line connecting the lower Delmarva Peninsula to the markets of the northeast was built in 1884, several new towns were created along its route which bypassed many of the shore's older established communities. Parksley was the second such planned town on the Virginia shore (after Cape Charles at the railroad's southern terminus in Northampton County) and was laid out in 1885 under the management of the Parksley Land Improvement Company. In 1898, town leaders made an unsuccessful attempt to relocate the county seat from Accomac to the Parksley. The town was incorporated in 1904. During the first half of the 20th century, Parksley became an important shipping point for seafood and agricultural products harvested from…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Parksley, 1884 to 1942

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Parksley post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910In the archiveConfederate Memorial
  5. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Parksley, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Confederate Memorialc. 1910Confederate Memorial
1920s–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
Today3 recent
Railroad right of way, Parksley, VA, August 20142014Railroad right of way, Parksley, VA, August 2014Dunne Avenue, Parksley, VA, August 20142014Dunne Avenue, Parksley, VA, August 2014VAMap-doton-Parksley2005VAMap-doton-Parksley
On the map

Parksley on the map, 1942 to 1968

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

Parksley on the 1942 USGS mapParksley on the 1968 USGS map1942Parksley 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 Parksley.

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.

Confederate Memorial
Retake this viewConfederate Memorial, c. 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Parksley, census by census

02004006008001,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 979

Between 601 and 979 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Parksley

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

See all →
Henry A. WiseUnited States Congressman and governor of Virgi… · b. 1806
Charles I. StengleAmerican politician · b. 1869
Thomas H. B. BrowneAmerican politician · b. 1844
Edward Southey JoynesAmerican scholar · b. 1834
J
Josh NolzAmerican soccer player · b. 1980
B
Barbara Bohannan-SheppardAmerican politician · b. 1950
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

WhitesvilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Parksley’s history

What year was Parksley founded?

The Parksley post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1885.

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 (4), 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.