North Stonington Village Historic District

About this property

The North Stonington Village Historic District is a 105-acre (42 ha) historic district encompassing the historic center of the main village of North Stonington, Connecticut. The district includes a well-preserved small industrial village, which flourished in the years before the American Civil War, and declined afterward. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. North Stonington was settled as part of Stonington in the 17th century, and was separately incorporated in 1807. Its central village grew around an early gristmill site on the Shunock River, and its oldest surviving buildings are houses that date to the mid-18th century. Industry flourished after 1790, with a power canal prodiving water power to a variety of mills, as well as a triphammer and tannery. These were all relatively modest in scale, and suffered competitively with larger scale textile mills developed elsewhere. Business survived through the American Civil War, which placed a heavy demand for woolen products, but declined thereafter. None of the village's 19th-century industrial facilities remain, beyond foundations, industrial archaeological remains, and traces of the water power system. The historic district is centered on the confluence of Assekonk Brook and the Shunock River, and is roughly bounded on the south and west by the modern alignment of Connecticut Route 2. The district includes 72 contributing buildings, 5 other contributing structures, 3 contributing sites, and 1 contributing object. Most of these buildings are residences built either in the 18th century or in the first half of the 19th, and are in vernacular versions of architectural styles popular at that time. Federal, Greek Revival, and Italianate buildings predominate, although there are a few examples of later styles, particularly in the village's institutional buildings. The current town hall is a converted garage with Colonial Revival styling, while previously the town offices were in an 1809 Federal style commercial building. Probably the most architectural sophisticated building in the district is the Richardsonian Romanesque Wheeler Library, built in the early 20th century. a stone bridge over the Shunok River (photo 1 in the NRHP application attachments) the William Sisson House, at 69 Main Street (photo 3) the Luther Avery / Steven Maine House, at 1 Wyassup Road (photo 4) the William Avery House, at 35 Main Street (photo 5) the Noah Grant, Jr., House, a house with a broken pediment at 17 Main Street (photo 6) the Rev. Joseph Ayer House, 94 Main Street (photo 7) the North Stonington Post Office, 60 Main Street (photo 9)

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in New London County

Historic places, battles, and census history across New London County.

More historic places in Connecticut

Browse all historic places in Connecticut.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Connecticut history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.