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Ledyard Historic Properties
History & Architecture
This architectural and historical overview traces the development of Ledyard from settlement as the frontier of the coastal communities of first New London, then Groton, through its establishment as a separate church society and finally, its later growth as an incorporated town. The basic building blocks of the overview are the surveyed historic resources. Throughout this analysis, there has been an attempt to place these resources in the temporal contexts of state and local history and thus, by extension come to an understanding of the role of Ledyard and its people of various stages of the American experience.
A number of factors impact upon a town’s development, including the most essential, the type and quality of its natural resources. But, of special interest to the historian, is the conformance or deviation from historical norms, particularly the responses to circumstances or events that shaped the town and made it what it is today. Although it was based on the colonial cornerstones of land and family, Ledyard was not a “Peaceable Kingdom,” the idealized, highly structured and ordered community envisioned by the Puritans and so rarely achieved. In fact, in a period when religious dissent was not tolerated, Ledyard’s people were highly individualistic; dissident factions rebelled against the conformity of Connecticut Congregationalism at a very early period. It will be found that some of this deviation can be attributed to the historical patterns of scattered settlement and the clannishness of the settler families. But intricate networks of kinship obligation developed between their descendants through intermarriage, which overtime tended to bind the community together. Furthermore, Ledyard has had an unusual historical relationship with Native Americans. In most communities such a relationship, if it occurred at all, was limited to the early settlement period but here it continues to play a major role in the present day. Single events have impacted on town history as well, particularly the Battle of Groton Heights at Fort Griswold in the last staged of the Revolution. The war as a time of hardship and deprivation throughout the state, but few towns were as immediately affected and fewer still suffered the loss of so many lives. (excerpt from "A Historic and Architectural Survey of the Town of Ledyard")
The following is excerpted from the "Introduction To Ledyard"
(contained in a six volume series, Historic Ledyard, prepared by the Ledyard Historical Society)
Ledyard is a town in the southeastern part of Connecticut which, predominantly rural, is rapidly becoming suburban in character. Bordered on the west by the Thames River with its gently rolling, tree covered hills and occasional outcroppings of ledge, it stretches off to the east bordering Mystic and Stonington, and is approximately 40 square miles in area. Originally Pequot Indian territory, the first land grants to the early settlers were assigned as part of New London territory. In 1705, land on the eastern side of the Great (Pequot) River became the independent town of Groton within which the present boundaries of Ledyard existed. Early land records and legal transactions all referred to this location as Groton until 1836 when the residents of this part of the North or Second Society of Groton incorporated and took the name Ledyard. Colonel William Ledyard as the commander of the Colonial forces that died defending Fort Griswold in 1781 at the Battle of Groton Heights which claimed the lives of many local native sons.
Water and waterways were the first highways for early settlers who came to this part of New England. The larger settlements were on the shores of Long Island Sound near the mouth of the rivers at Saybrook, New Haven, and New London. The more adventurous settlers in this area moved inland by river and created Norwich. Early grants of Long Lots along the east bank of the Thames River went to men with names like Gager, Winthrop, Bayley, Allyn, Brewster, Avery, Coit, and others.
Only the Indian trails led across the country between rivers. Many of our present east-west highways follow these basic trails either by river valleys or by ridges. The Mohegan Trail led from the Mohegan territory at Fort Shantok through Ledyard southward to the Indian fishing grounds at Old Mystic, roughly following Route 117 to Spicer Hill Road over Gallup Hill to Mystic. There it met the Pequot Trail, which continued eastward into Narragansett territory. At the intersection of the Mohegan Trail and the road that led southward across Ledyard stands an old Bill store sometimes referred to as a tavern, though there is no evidence to support the title. Bill kept travelers overnight at his home across the road, which might have contributed to the tavern theory.
Religion was the heart of the early society and this section of what is now Ledyard was known as the Second or North Parish of Groton. By 1725, it had organized its own Ecclesiastical Society and immediately designated the geographical center of the parish as the site for a meeting house and two years later erection of the building was begun. The present Congregational churc building is the second on the same site, being built in 1834 and still governed by the Ecclesiastical Society.
Church Hill Road got its name from an Episcopal Church located near the old crossroads. Samuel Seabury, the first Episcopal Bishop in Connecticut, is said to have lived near the site. A Separatist Church existed on Whalehead Road and the Rogerene Quakers organized their own church in the southeastern part of Ledyard in an area that has come to be known as Quakertown.
As the meeting house was also the seat of the governmental body in early New England life, so important activities centered in the immediate area. In Leyard, a training ground was located next to the Meeting House and a Center School was built nearby. The first small white Town Hall building was near the group, across the street from the Grange Hall, which was built in 1907. The Bill Library, built in 1893, is located on “the common” near the church.
As the Center became the hub of activity, new roads and trails intersected the town at this point. The earlier homes in Ledyard were located on these arteries, accessible to traffic and trade. Early land deeds give clues to these highways for in 1669, the Mohegan Trail was referred to as the King’s Highway. In 1728, “the road” led past the Meeting House and a later road is mentioned as coming up from the Ferry past the Center to reach across to Latern Hill. This could well be the same as Stoddard’s Wharf Road, Iron Street, and Indiantown Road. The Center Groton Road led directly to the first Parish in Groton.
After religion, the early inhabitants valued education and the town was divided into as many as fourteen school districts. The names of these small one-room school houses reflect the areas they served and the families who attended - Long Cove School, Lambtown School, and Geer School are just a few.
Jonathan Whipple is remembered as an educator who succeeded in teaching language to his deaf son by oral or lip-reading method and his grandson ran a school in his own home on Colonel Ledyard Highway to educate other deaf children in this manner. This start eventually became the state owned Mystic Oral School.
When Groton was first set off in 1705, the Town Meeting Records state that “the Pine Swamp on the east side where they usually got Masts. ...(was) for the benefit of the inhabitants on both sides of the River.” In 1695, Major General Fitz John Winthrop, later to become Governor of Connecticut, was granted land at Long Cove for the special purpose of erecting a sawmill. Almost every brook and stream and dammed pond in Ledyard has the ruins of at least one mill site. Saw mills, shingle mills, grist mills, and milling in general were all part of the life of the early settlers. The mills came into existence of necessity, were used and then abandoned when there was no longer a need. An extensive series of mill sites with interesting stone work can be seen in the southeastern part of Ledyard along a brook which was dammed twice to form two mill ponds to serve a Paint Mill complex.
The fifty-three recorded cemeteries scattered throughout the town of Ledyard tell a history by themselves. Many are overgrown and often forgotten family plots, though others are cared-for family cemeteries. Two large cemeteries serve the town. The earliest marked headstone is of Lt. John Morgan who died in 1711. The Rogerene Quaker Cemetery is interesting for its unmarked and numbered stones. Mashantucket, the largest state owned Pequot Indian Burial Ground, is within the bounds of Ledyard. The many gravestones of Ledyard identify the influential men who were sea captains, whalers, Revolutionary soldiers, veterans of all the wars and the woman who bore and raised these men and kept the farms going in their absences.
Below Click Street Number to View in Google Maps:
Street Number |
Street |
Name-Style & Date |
Allyn Lane |
Williams-Allyn House, Cape, 1803 |
|
Avery Hill Road |
Avery Homestead, Colonial, c. 1698-1725 |
|
Avery Hill Road |
Jacob Avery House, Cape, c. 1755 |
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Avery Hill Road |
Peter Avery House, Colonial/Federal, c. 1785 |
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Avery Hill Road |
Elisha A. Crary House, Colonial, c. 1780 |
|
Center Groton Road |
James Etheridge House, Cape, c. 1800 |
|
Christy Hill Road |
Thomas M. Latham House, Cape. 1844 |
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Church Hill Road |
Gurdon Bill Store, 1819 (National Register, 1982) |
|
Church Hill Road |
Bill Parsonage, Federal, 1792/c. 1819 |
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Church Hill Road |
Church Hill District School, c. 1760 |
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Church Hill Road |
James Allyn House. Cape, c. 1800 |
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Coachman Pike |
Peter Williams House. Cape, 1790 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Whipple School, 19th-c. vernacular, 1872 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Jonathan Whipple House, Cape, 1760 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Henry Rogers House, 19th-c. vernacukarm c, 1842 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Deacon Russell Gallup House, Colonial/Federal, 1826 (National Register, 1987) |
|
Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Stephen/James Billings House, Italianate, c. 1770/1860 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Holdridge House, Cape, c. 1740 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Erastus Gallup House, Greek Revival, c. 1835 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Bill Library, Queen Anne, 1892 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Ledyard Congregational Church, Greek Revival, 1843 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Old Town Hall, Colonial Revival, c. 1930 |
|
Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Trustrum Billings House, Cape. 1744 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Nathaniel Brown House, Cape 1722 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Amos Geer House, Colonial, 1769 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Geer Hill School, 18th century |
|
Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Isaac Geer House, Cape, 1723 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Joseph A. Clark House, 20th-c. venacular, c. 1910 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
Delano Sheldon House, 19th-c. vernacular, c. 1890 |
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Colonel Ledyard Highway |
James Geer House, Greek Revival, 1846 |
|
Gallup Hill Road |
Capt. William Morgan House, Colonial/Federal, 1784 |
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Gallup Hill Road |
Christopher Gallup House, Colonial, c. 1790 |
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Gallup Hill Road |
Lieut. Benadam Gallup House, Colonial, c/ 1730 |
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Gallup Hill Road |
Dwight Gallup House, Neo-Georgian/Italianate, 1876 |
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Gallup Hill Road |
William Noyes House, Colonial/Federal, c. 1735 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Gales Ferry School, 1868 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Henry Comstock House, 19th-c., vernacular, 1848 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Orlando Bolles House, Greek Revival, 1947 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Adelbert Alexander House, Victorian vernacular, 1899 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Stephen Perkins House, Greek Revival, c. 1845 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
George A. Bailey House, Greek Revival, 1844 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Simeon A. Bailey House, 19th-c. vernacular, 1880 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Stephen Hempstead House, Cape, 1826 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
William Browning House, Cape, 1827 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Lucy Hempstead House, Victorian Vernacular, c. 1910 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
John Allyn, Jr. House, Cape, 1795 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Samuel Brown Store, 1899 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Stephen Gray House, Greek Revival, c. 1942 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
John D. Bradford House, 19th-c. vernacular, c. 1950 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Sarah Vincent House, Victorian Vernacular, c. 1850 |
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Hurlbutt Road |
Daniel Copp House, Federal 1796 |
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Indiantown Road |
George Andrew House, 19th-c. vernacular, c. 1820 |
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Indiantown Road |
Willam L. Main House, Cape, c. 1780 |
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Iron Street |
Enos M. Gray House, 19th-c. vernacular, c. 1850 |
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Iron Street |
Andrew Gallup House, Cape, c. 1809 |
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Iron Street |
Ledyard Sawmill, 1868 |
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Iron Street |
Avery W. Brown House, Cape, c. 1770 |
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Iron Street |
Nathaniel & Israel Brown House, Cape, c. 1750 |
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Iron Street |
Champlin J. Brown House, Cape, c.1800 |
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Lambtown Road |
Lamb Homestead, Colonial, c. 1720/1830 (National Register, 1991) |
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Lambtown Road |
William Lamb, Jr., House, Colonial, c. 1740/1790 |
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Lambtown Road |
Russell Lamb House, Cape, c. 1790 |
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Lambtown Road |
Zachariah Crouch House, Cape, c. 1780 |
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Lambtown Road |
Deacon Benadam Gallup House, Cape, c. 1765 |
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Lambtown Road Ext. |
Aaron Lamb House, Cape, c. 1805 |
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Long Cove Road |
Giles Bailey Homstead, Colonial, c. 1760/1790 |
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Long Cove Road |
Joseph Lewis House, Cape, c. 1765 |
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Long Cove Road |
Moxley-Stoddard House, Greek Revivial, 1844 |
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Long Cove Road |
Peter & Amos Lester House, Cape, c. 1760 |
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Long Cove Road |
Ralph S. Stoddard House, Cape, c. 1775 |
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Long Cove Road |
Joseph Starr House, Colonial, c. 1750 |
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Long Cove Road |
Robinson Bailey House, Cape, c. 1790 |
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Long Cove Road |
Benjamin Bill, Jr., House, Cape, c. 1781 |
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Long Cove Road |
Stoddard Tenement, 19th-c. vernacular, c. 1850 |
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Long Cove Road |
Grace P. Chase House, Bundalow, c. 1915 |
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Long Cove Road |
George A. Bailey House (2nd). Victorian Vern., 1869 |
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Long Cove Road |
Charles H. Stoddard House, Italianate, c. 1860 |
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Long Pond Road South |
Fanning House, Cape, c. 1770 |
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Long Pond Road South |
John Finegan House, Carpenter Gothic, c. 1860 |
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Maple Corners Road |
Alfred Rogers House, Victorian Vernavular, 1899 |
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Mathewson Mill Road |
John Myers House, Greek Revival, 1842 |
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Mathewson Mill Road |
Prentice Williams House, Cape, c. 1800 |
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Mathewson Mill Road |
Ezra Geer House, Italianate, c. 1850 |
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Meadow Drive |
John Hurbutt House, 19th-c. vernacular, c. 1850 |
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Military Highway |
Nellie P. DeRusha House, Bungalow, c. 1925 |
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Military Highway |
Wilson Allyn House, 19th-c. verrnacular, 1859 |
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Military Highway |
Henry S. Bisbing House, Colonial Revival, c. 1910 |
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Orchard Drive |
Avery-Holmberg House, Colonial/Federal, c. 1910 |
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Pumpkin Hill Road |
Leonard C. Smith House, Colonial/Federal, c. 1810 |
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River Drive |
Spencer-Stoddard House, Cape, c. 1750 |
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Riverside Place |
Thomas Geer House, Cape, 1796 |
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Riverside Place |
Capt. Latham A. Brown House, Italiante, c. 1875 |
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Riverside Place |
Yale Boathouse, c. 1910 |
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Riverside Place |
Delpine L. Fish House, 20th-c, vernacular, c. 1910 |
|
Riverside Place |
Capt. Austin Lester House, Greek Revival, 1846 |
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Riverside Place |
Abel Bolles House, Cape, 1842 |
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Riverside Place |
Benajah Davis House, Cape, 1755 |
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Riverside Place |
Rebecca Bailey House, Greek Revival. 1857 |
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Riverside Place |
Guy C. Stoddard House, Colonial/Federal, c. 1820 |
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Riverside Place |
John McDougal House, Victorian Vernacular, 1903 |
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Rose Hill Road |
David Geer House, Colonial,/Greek Revival, c. 1785/1840 |
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Rose Hill Road |
David and Joseph Geer House, Colonial, c. 1795 |
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Rose Hill Road |
Timothy Whipple House, Cape. C. 1750 |
|
Route 12 |
Copp-Newton House, Federal, c. 1800 |
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Route 12 |
Thomas Allyn House, Cape, c. 1760 |
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Route 12 |
Sanford B. Stoddard House, Italianate, c. 1840 |
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Route 2 |
Ayer House, Cape, c. 1790 |
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Route 2 |
Erasmus Avery House, Greek Rivival, 1833 |
|
Shewville Road |
Charles Eldrege House, Colonial, 1773 |
|
Shewville Road |
Stiles Crandall House, Greek Revival, c. 1840 |
|
Shewville Road |
Capt. Joseph Gallup House, Cape, c. 1755 |
|
Shewville Road |
Ira E. Porter House 20th-c. vernacular, c. 1914 |
|
Shewville Road |
Nehemiah Gallup House, Cape, c. 1840 |
|
Shewville Road |
Henry Gallup House, Colonial, c. 1750 |
|
Shewville Road |
Seth Williams House, Colonial, c. 1780 |
|
Shewville Road |
William Williams House, Colonial, 1803 |
|
Shewville Road |
Schoolhouse, District #7, c. 1820 |
|
Shewville Road |
Wilcox-Stanton House Cape, c. 1800 |
|
Shewville Road |
Philip Gray, Jr., House, Cape, c. 1765 |
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Shewville Road |
Amos L. Latham House, Colonial, c. 1780 |
|
Shewville Road |
Capt. Thomas Fanning House, Cape, 1746/1789 |
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Shewville Road |
Shewville Millhouse, c. 1860 |
|
Sleepy Hollow Pentway |
Asa Perkins House, Cape. 1770 |
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Spicer Hill Road |
Ebenezer Brown House, Cape, c. 1740 |
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Spicer Hill Road |
Abel Spicer House, Cape, c. 1740 |
|
Spicer Hill Road |
Capt. John Morgan House, Cape,c. 1720 |
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Spicer Hill Road Ext. |
Benjamin S. Gray House, Cape, c. 1760 |
|
Stoddards Wharf Road |
Franklin Brewster House, Cape, 1819 |
|
Stoddards Wharf Road |
David Chapman House, Cape, c. 1750 |
|
Thomas Road |
Isaac G. Geer House, Victorial Vernacular, c. 1890 |
|
Town Farm Road |
Wiliam Williams 2 House, Colonial, 1725/1836 |
|
Vinegar Hill Road |
Elijah Newton House, Cape, c. 1770 |
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Vinegar Hill Road |
Capt. Mark Stoddard House, Cape, c. 1770 |
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Vinegar Hill Road |
Amos Lester House, Cape, c. 1800 |
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Vinegar Hill Road |
Capt. Elisha Satterlee House Cape, c. 1810 |
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Vinegar Hill Road |
Nathan Lester House, Federal/Colonial, 1793 (National Register, 1972) |
|
Whalehead Road |
John Chapman House, 18th-c. Vernacular, c. 1791 |
|
Whalehead Road |
Elder Park Allyn House, Cape, c. 1755 |
|
Whalehead Road |
Simeon A. Stoddard House, Greek Revival, c. 1840 |
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Whalehead Road |
Capt. Washington Avery House, Cape, c. 1780 |