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History · Sperryville

Sperryville’s post office opened in 1834, and 34% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 63 buildings. Below: 13 old photos and papers and maps from 1961 on.

1834first post office
1on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
13old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Sperryville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Sperryville began

When was Sperryville founded?

1834

The Sperryville post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 302192 years
Founding year: the first Sperryville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sperryville’s past

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

A historic districtThe Sperryville Historic District takes in 63 historic buildings.A town in old photos13 old photos, postcards and papers.Deep rootsA post office since 1834: 192 years of Sperryville.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

1 listing protects 63 historic buildings

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
63
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Sperryville Historic District
Sperryville Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Federal1
Victorian1
Shotgun1
Carpenter Gothic1
Commercial1
Queen Anne1
Sperryville Historic DistrictFederal

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

By decade

Sperryville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s13 items
Fields near Sperryville, Virginia1935Fields near Sperryville, VirginiaUntitled photo, possibly related to: Fields near Sperryville, Virginia1935Untitled photo, possibly related to: Fields near Sper…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Fields near Sperryville, Virginia1935Untitled photo, possibly related to: Fields near Sper…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Fields near Sperryville, Virginia1935Untitled photo, possibly related to: Fields near Sper…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Fields near Sperryville, Virginia1935Untitled photo, possibly related to: Fields near Sper…Wheat1936WheatVirginia wheat. Vicinity of Sperryville1936Virginia wheat. Vicinity of SperryvilleMen cradling wheat in eastern Virginia near Sperryville1936Men cradling wheat in eastern Virginia near Sperryvil…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Men cradling wheat in eastern Virginia near Sperryville1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Men cradling whe…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Men cradling wheat in eastern Virginia near Sperryville1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Men cradling whe…Cradling wheat near Sperryville, Virginia. A hand binder follows the mower. These men had never heard of a combine harv…1936Cradling wheat near Sperryville, Virginia. A hand bin…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Cradling wheat near Sperryville, Virginia. A hand binder follows the mower. These …1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Cradling wheat n…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Cradling wheat near Sperryville, Virginia. A hand binder follows the mower. These …1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Cradling wheat n…
1940s–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
Today4 recent
Sperryville, Virginia2011Sperryville, VirginiaFallen2010FallenPost office in2009Post office inNicks88eagle2007Nicks88eagle
Timeline

Sperryville, 1834 to 1961

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1834Post officeThe Sperryville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1935In the archiveFields near Sperryville, Virginia
  5. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Sperryville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sperryville.

Read it all →

The land on which Sperryville is located is part of 3,000 acres granted by King George II of Great Britain to Francis Thornton in 1731. This land was regranted to Thornton in 1751 by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, owner of the Northern Neck Proprietary, after Fairfax won his suit to prevent the king from granting land in the Proprietary. Part of this land was inherited by a descendant, also named Francis Thornton, in 1817. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, became a Presbyterian minister, and was sent from his home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to organize a Presbyterian church in what was then western Culpeper County. In 1820 he began selling small lots of land along the main road (currently Main Street, VA Route 1001). The first deed was for a ½-acre lot “in a little town laid off by me, the said Francis Thornton Jr., and surveyed by Johnston Menefee ... the village is …

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

On the map

Sperryville on the map, 1961 to 1994

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

Sperryville on the 1961 USGS mapSperryville on the 1971 USGS mapSperryville on the 1994 USGS map1961Sperryville 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 Sperryville.

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.

Fields near Sperryville, Virginia
Retake this viewFields near Sperryville, Virginia, 1935

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Sperryville

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

See all →
Ambrose Powell HillConfederate Army general · b. 1825
Ellen Lewis Herndon ArthurWife of U.S. president Chester A. Arthur · b. 1837
Benita Fitzgerald-BrownAmerican hurdler · b. 1961
Kim M. CobbAmerican climate scientist and academic · b. 1974
Edward AlmondUnited States Army general · b. 1892
Eppa HuntonU.S. Representative and Senator from Virginia a… · b. 1822
Help out

Finish Sperryville’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewFields near Sperryville, Virginia: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Sperryville’s history

What year was Sperryville founded?

The Sperryville post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Sperryville?

One place: the Sperryville Historic District (listed 1983).

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), the Library of Congress (13), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.