Chepachet Village Historic District

About this property

Chepachet is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Glocester in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It is centered at the intersection of U.S. Route 44 (a.k.a. Putnam Pike) and Rhode Island Route 102 (also known as Victory Highway and Chopmist Hill Road). Chepachet's ZIP code is 02814. As of the 2020 census, Chepachet had a population of 1,704. "Chepachet" was originally inhabited by the Pequot and Nipmuc natives; the name means "where rivers meet". This being the day for the choice of Deputies (members of the General Assembly). We are told that there is a very great resort of people of all kinds at Chepasseh, and that it is a day of great frolicking. Our landlord and his three sons are gone, having rigged themselves out in the best manner. [A] man on horseback passed by (together with many others) with a very large bag full of cakes made by Granne West (mother to the General William West) which are to be sold to the people. In 1842, Chepachet was the setting of the endgame of the Dorr Rebellion, which helped to win voting rights for non-landowners in a new state Constitution. On November 4, 1923, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his fellow writer C. M. Eddy, Jr. ventured to Chepachet in search of a place known as "Dark Swamp" of which they had heard rumors. They never located it, but the region inspired at least the opening of Lovecraft's story (novelette) "The Colour Out of Space", and the setting contributed to Eddy's unfinished story "Black Noon". Chepachet is also mentioned several times in Lovecraft's story (novelette) "The Horror at Red Hook". Since 1926, the town has hosted the Ancients and Horribles parade, an annual Fourth of July event, notable for its political statements and ribald humor. In the 1940s, a US Navy auxiliary ship, the fleet fuel oil tanker, USS Chepachet, was named after the Chepachet River which runs through the village. The ship's bell is displayed at the seat of town government, and the ship's surviving crew had a 50th anniversary reunion in the town in 1998. Beginning with a proclamation in 1976, May 25 is recognized as "Elephant Day". On that date in 1826, a popular elephant known as Betty the Learned Elephant from a traveling show was shot and killed while she was crossing the bridge spanning the Chepachet River. A group of six "hooligans" led by Canton Smith of nearby North Scituate faced charges for the crime. A commemorative plaque marks the historic location on the bridge. The 2020 United States census counted 1,704 people, 744 households, and 405 families in Chepachet. The population density was 309.4 per square mile (119.4/km2). There were 778 housing units at an average density of 141.2 per square mile (54.5/km2). The racial makeup was 93.19% (1,588) white or European American (92.49% non-Hispanic white), 0.59% (10) black or African-American, 0.12% (2) Native American or Alaska Native, 0.35% (6) Asian, 0.0% (0) Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian, 0.53% (9) from other races, and 5.22% (89) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 1.88% (32) of the population.

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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.

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