The Rockingham Village Historic District encompasses the traditional village center of the town of

Rockingham, Vermont Rockingham is a New England town, town along the Connecticut River in Windham County, Vermont, Windham County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 4,832. Rockingham includes the incorporated ...

. Settled in the 18th century, the district, located mainly on Meeting House Road off

Vermont Route 103 Vermont Route 103 (VT 103) is a north–south state highway in southern Vermont, United States. It runs from U.S. Route 5 (US 5) in Rockingham in the east to US 7 in Clarendon near Rutland in the west. The Vermont Country Store's second bra ...

, includes a variety of 18th and 19th-century houses, and has been little altered since a fire in 1908. It notably includes the 18th-century

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

Rockingham Meeting House. The district 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 2008.

Description and history

The town of Rockingham was chartered in 1753, but settlement did not begin until the 1760s. Its village center was laid out on a terrace overlooking the Williams River to the north, which is where its first meeting house, cemetery, and post office were established. The village soon became a major stop on the road that followed the river (now

), and featured shops,

taverns A tavern is a type of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...

, a

grist Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding. It can also mean grain that has been ground at a gristmill. Its etymology derives from the verb ''grind.'' Grist can be ground into meal or flour, depending on h ...

mill, and

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shops. The village was overtaken by Bellows Falls in economic importance by the 1820s, and development was modest afterward. On April 14, 1908, many of the shops and homes in the Village were destroyed in a fire, but the recently restored Rockingham Meeting House was spared by the fire.Incorrect year listed (1909). Lovell, F.S, and L.C. Lovell. 1958. History of the Town of Rockingham, Vermont, including the villages of Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Rockingham, Cambridgeport, and Bartonsville, 1907-1957, with family genealogies. Published by the town, Bellows Falls, VT. Only a few new buildings (notably including the Grange hall) replaced them. The village was bypassed in the 1950s by a new alignment of Route 103. The historic district extends along Meeting House Road, which is the former alignment of Route 103, from its southern junction with 103 to the dead-end spur on the west side of Divoll Brook. It includes a few buildings on Rockingham Hill Road, which extends south toward the village of

Saxtons River The Saxtons River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Vermont, a tributary of the Connecticut River. Its watershed covers and ...

. The district includes 13 properties of historic significance, including the town's first cemetery, the 1787

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 ...

), and one of Vermont's best concentrations of late Georgian residential architecture. The oldest surviving houses date to the 1770s, and most of the building stock was built before 1850. The notable exceptions are the Grange hall and two houses, built near the road junction in the wake of the 1908 fire.

References

{{NRHP in Windham County, Vermont Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont Georgian Revival architecture in Vermont Federal architecture in Vermont Rockingham, Vermont National Register of Historic Places in Windham County, Vermont Historic districts in Windham County, Vermont

Description and history

See also

References