Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 63 buildings between them. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1943 on, and the census since 1790.
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 Peacham’s history is told.
Peacham’s post office has been open since 1800. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Peacham.
In 1763, Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire gave a charter for the region to a group of proprietors, and the town was given the name Peacham (the etymology of the name is unclear). The original proprietors were speculators who surveyed the town, laid a few rudimentary roads, and divided it into lots, though the territory remained unsettled for some time.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereSamuel Worcester is born here
Born hereEdward Elisha Phelps is born hereBuiltJosiah and Lydia Shedd Farmstead is built
Born hereGeorge Brinton McClellan Harvey is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
2026Peacham VT 5-1-26
2026Peacham VT 3-25-26
2025Peacham VT 9-29-25
2021Harvey Mountain from Peacham Cemetery
2020Devils Hill Summit in April
2016PeachamVT JosiahAndLydiaSheddFarmstead
2016PeachamVT ElkinsTavern
2016PeachamVT BayleyHazenRoad2
2016PeachamVT BayleyHazenRoad
2016PeachamVT BaileyHouseSiteMarker
2007Peacham, Vermont Church
20073cornersschoolhouse
20072007 library
2004Peacham vt highlightEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Peacham. 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 Peacham.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Peacham’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 1,443 in 1840; 715 people lived here in 2020.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Peacham’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
4 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Elkins Tavern (listed 1978, the first), and 2 historic districts, the New Discovery State Park and the Peacham Corner Historic District, with 63 contributing buildings. 68 historic buildings in all.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (17), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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