The Quaker Hill Historic District encompasses the center a mainly residential village in northeastern

Waterford, Connecticut Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Southeastern Connecticut ...

. Running in a mostly linear fashion along Old Norwich Road between

Connecticut Route 32 Route 32 is a primary north–south state highway in the U.S. state of Connecticut, beginning in New London and continuing via Willimantic to the Massachusetts state line, where it continues as Massachusetts Route 32. Route ...

and Richard Grove Road, the area first grew as a settlement of religious non-conformists in the 17th century, developed in the 19th century as a small industrial village, and became more suburban in character in the 20th century. Its architecture is reflective of these changes, and it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2002.

Description and history

Waterford's Quaker Hill area was part of early land divisions when New London was settled by English Colonists in the mid-17th century. Much of the land in the area was acquired by James Rogers, whose family eventually split from the local Congregationalist church to form a sect (called "Rogerenes" after their leader) that borrowed from both

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

and

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

theology. The Rogerenes refused to accept colonial authority or pay ministerial taxes, and the village they formed developed without the traditional central

meeting house A meeting house (also spelled meetinghouse or meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes private meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a: * chu ...

. In 1792, Old Norwich Road was built through the area as a turnpike, joining New London and

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

. Only a few buildings survive in the village prior to its construction, including the only stone house, built in 1794 for Christopher Green. In the 19th century, the village flourished as a local center of the papermaking industry, and it developed as a

streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...

when a trolley line was run along Old Norwich Road from New London. The district is a very irregularly shaped district that generally runs along Old Norwich Road. It includes the center of the historic Quaker Hill neighborhood. It excludes non-historic properties, including entire streets, of modern-day Quaker Hill. It has 109 elements, of which 92 are contributing buildings, over a area. It also includes 16 non-contributing buildings and one non-contributing site. Most of the buildings are residential, reflecting a diversity of architectural styles across the 19th and early 20th centuries. Properties included in the district are: numbers 3 and 5 on Caroline Court; 3 Northwood Road; 2, 11, and 17 on Quaker Hill Green (Old Colchester Road); 2 Richard's Grove Road; 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 15 Rosemary Lane; and 54 parcels on Old Norwich Road ranging from numbers 91 to 209.

Contributing properties

Contributing properties in the district include: *the Christopher Green House, a Georgian style house dating from 1794, is the only stone building in the district. *the Benjamin Green house is a Colonial style house. and *the John Rogers House, perhaps from 1782 *Quaker Hill Baptist Church *Red Lion Tavern *Alexander House *Glassbrenner House, c. 1900, a Queen Anne/

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

188 Old Norwich Road *Quaker Hill School, a large brick building with two-story

pilasters In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

*Quaker Hill Firehouse, from 1927 *Ester Blum House, c. 1920, a four-square at 93 Old Norwich Road *John Burch House, c. 1800, 95 Old Norwich Road *James Moore House, c. 1860, a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

cottage at 97 Old Norwich Road *Greystone Heights, c. 1919 a stuccoed Craftsman influenced home at 3 Northwood Rd File:Green, Benjamin, House - Quaker Hill Historic District - New London County CT.jpg, Benjamin Green House (1736 or 1800) File:Green, Christopher, House - Quaker Hill Historic District - New London County CT.jpg, Christopher Green House (1794) File:Quaker Hill Baptist Church - Quaker Hill Historic District - New London County CT.jpg, Quaker Hill Baptist Church (1835) File:Quaker Hill Historic District - 166 Old Norwich Rd, New London County CT.jpg, American Queen Anne style (1900) File:Quaker Hill Historic District - 140 Old Norwich Rd, New London County CT.jpg,

American Craftsman American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. ...

(1926) File:Quaker Hill Historic District - 167 Old Norwich Rd, New London County CT.jpg,

Bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

(1930) File:Quaker Hill Historic District - 149 Old Norwich Rd, New London County CT.jpg,

Dutch Colonial Revival Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial Re ...

(1936)

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Colonial Revival architecture in Connecticut Waterford, Connecticut Historic districts in New London County, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in New London County, Connecticut Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut

Description and history

Contributing properties

See also

References