Photo: DwayneP. The original uploader was DwayneP at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0

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History · Seven Mile Ford

Seven Mile Ford’s post office opened in 1823, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Aspenvale Cemetery. Below: maps from 1935 on.

1823first post office

1on the National Register

13%homes built before 1940

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Quick answers

How Seven Mile Ford began

When was Seven Mile Ford founded?

1823

The Seven Mile Ford post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 664203 years

Founding year: the first Seven Mile Ford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Seven Mile Ford’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Seven Mile Ford are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1823: 203 years of Seven Mile Ford.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Seven Mile Ford’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Seven Mile Ford’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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Timeline

Seven Mile Ford, 1823 to 2002

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

19th century
1823Post officeThe Seven Mile Ford post office opens
20th century
1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
21st century
2002Post officeThe Seven Mile Ford post office closes

The story so far

Seven Mile Ford, in brief

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

Seven Mile Ford is a census-designated place (CDP) in Smyth County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, Seven Mile Ford had a population of 664. It obtained its current name as a result of being a river crossing seven miles from the Royal Oak Fort in Marion. U.S. Route 11 passes through the center of the community, which is approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) from Chilhowie. Aspenvale Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Its first post office opened in 1823. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 783 to 664 (-15%).

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

By decade

Seven Mile Ford, decade by decade

Today1 recent

2008SevenMileFordVA

On the map

Seven Mile Ford on the map, 1935 to 1978

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

1935Chilhowie 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 Seven Mile Ford.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Seven Mile Ford

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

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1980

Aspenvale Cemetery

Sites

Aspenvale CemeterySite

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Seven Mile Ford

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

See all →

Scott CooperAmerican actor, screenwriter, director, and pro… · b. 1970

Kathryn HarroldAmerican actress · b. 1950

Annie JonesAmerican sideshow performer · b. 1865

Fred M. WilcoxAmerican film director · b. 1907

Francis Preston BlairAmerican newspaper editor and presidential advi… · b. 1791

Fred AllisonAmerican physicist · b. 1882

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Seven Mile Ford had its own post office from 1823 to 2002.

Seven Mile Ford

1823–2002

18201920today

Gone or out of use

Sugar Grove Schoolschool

1cemetery inside Seven Mile Ford

Aspenvale

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

AdwolfIts storyC⁻

Questions about Seven Mile Ford’s history

What year was Seven Mile Ford founded?

The Seven Mile Ford post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Seven Mile Ford?

One place: the Aspenvale Cemetery (listed 1980).

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 (1), 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.

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