Most of Woodlawn was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1933 on, and the census since 2000.
Founding year: the first Woodlawn post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Woodlawn’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Woodlawn is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Woodlawn’s overall grade.
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 Woodlawn’s 17.8 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.9 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). 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 →
What stands out about Woodlawn’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area of present-day Woodlawn, located in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, began as a land grant to James Wood of Frederick County in 1756. His son, James Wood, served as governor of Virginia from 1796 to 1799. The Treaty of Lochaber, between British representative John Stuart and the Cherokee, made the land available for settlement circa 1770. The original James Wood bequeathed the land to his wife Mary, who bequeathed it to her grandsons. It is thought that none of the Wood family ever lived in Woodlawn.
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.
The Woodlawn post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Woodlawn rank for history?
Woodlawn is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Woodlawn?
One place: the Woodlawn School (listed 2019).
How old are the homes in Woodlawn?
4% of Woodlawn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
2019
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