March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Plainfield Pike | |
Nearest city | Plainfield, Connecticut |
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Coordinates | 41°40′54″N71°51′50″W / 41.68167°N 71.86389°W Coordinates: 41°40′54″N71°51′50″W / 41.68167°N 71.86389°W |
Area | 22 acres (8.9 ha) |
MPS | Rochambeau's Army in Connecticut, 1780-1782 MPS |
NRHP reference No. | 03000312 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Dates of significance | 1781, 1782 |
Added to NRHP | June 6, 2003 |
March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Plainfield Pike is a 3.6 mile-long road segment in Plainfield and Sterling, Connecticut which forms a portion of the historic march route of Comte de Rochambeau's army in June 1781 on its way to Yorktown, Virginia, and again of the returning army in November 1782. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2003. [1]
It is a linear historic district consisting of a portion of Connecticut Route 14A, locally known as Plainfield Pike, which is level in the eastern part but generally hilly with curves. Along the route is open land of pasture and cornfields, wooded areas, and streams, including Ekonk Brook. It is bordered on both sides by stone walls about 50 feet apart for most of the way. As of 2002, the walls were clearly visible at some times of the year, although overgrown in places, but difficult to see in the summer. The only concentration of houses as of 2002 was of 18th- and 19th-century houses in the Sterling Hill Historic District section. [2] Among these is the Dorrance Inn [2] : 7 in Sterling (which was part of Voluntown at the time), which was mentioned in multiple French accounts of the marches and which is also NRHP-listed. [3] The segment includes views of farm fields and other countryside suggestive of how the land would have appeared in 1781 and 1782 for the troops marching through, including views west to ridges on the west side of the Quinebaug River valley. According to the NRHP nomination for the district:
Although it is now a paved state highway, the road retains its narrow, hilly, winding character, and for most of its length, the characteristic borders of stone walls remain in place. This is the longest continuous portion of the route to survive with these physical attributes intact. This is also the only portion of the route that still offers repeated vistas of distant ridges (Photographs 3 and 4). Elsewhere, the route has been too affected by re-forestation to allow such views. [2] : 8
The area listed is the roadway owned by the Connecticut State Department of Transportation, and not the adjacent properties. [2] In 1781, the roadway was poor, at least to the east of the hamlet of Plainfield just east of the listed district, and it caused difficulty for the artillery and baggage trains making their way to Plainfield from their second camp near Waterman's Tavern in Rhode Island. Frenchman Clermont-Crevecoeur's journal recorded: "very bad roads. The artillery and the supply wagons arrived very late" at the Plainfield camp. [4] Von Closen agreed, "The roads were still very bad", [5] as did du Bourg: "The roads still quite bad, many stragglers". [6] [2] : 8
There are multiple other properties associated with Rochambeau's route that were also considered for listing on the National Register in a 2001 study. [7]
Sterling is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,578 at the 2020 census.
This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The locations of National Register properties and districts for which the latitude and longitude coordinates are included below may be seen in an online map.
The Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route is a 680-mile (1,090 km) series of roads used in 1781 by the Continental Army under the command of George Washington and the Expédition Particulière under the command of Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau during their 14-week march from Newport, Rhode Island to Yorktown, Virginia. 4,000 French and 3,000 American soldiers began the march.
The March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Scotland Road is a historic road section in Windham, Connecticut. Extending along Scotland Road, from itsintersection with Back Rd. to 80 Scotland Road in, it is an evocative portion of the historic march route of the French Army under the Comte de Rochambeau in 1781 and 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. The troops camped beside the road within this segment in 1782. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The Sterling Hill Historic District encompasses a well-preserved early 19th-century rural village center on western edge of the town of Sterling, Connecticut. Centered at the junction of Plainfield Pike and Sterling Hill Road, it consists of a cluster of 19th and early 19th-century houses, and a church. Unlike other period villages, it has largely been unaffected by later development. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
The Newtown Borough Historic District is a 100-acre (40 ha) historic district in the borough of Newtown within the town of Newtown in Fairfield County, Connecticut. There is a local historic district, and an overlapping district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
The Dorrance Inn, also known as the Samuel Dorrance House, is a historic former inn at 748 Plainfield Pike in Sterling, Connecticut built about 1722. It is notable as a place that hosted officers of the French Army in 1781 and 1782, as it was along the march route taken by French commander Rochambeau's troops on their march to meet the Continental Army under General George Washington. Dorrance's Inn is one of a few places mentioned by name in multiple accounts written by French officers. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and is a contributing building in the Sterling Hill Historic District.
The Forty-Seventh Camp of Rochambeau's Army is a historic military camp site in Windham, Connecticut, located along Scotland Road a short way east of Windham Center. It was the site of a French Army camp in November 1782 on their march from the victory at Yorktown to Rhode Island. The camp site is considered of archaeological importance because it can shed light on transient military camp sites, whose locations are not often known. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The Fourth Camp of Rochambeau's Army is a historic military camp site near Plains Road and Lovers Lane on the banks of the Shetucket River in Windham, Connecticut. It was here that the French Army encamped in the summer of 1781 under the command of Rochambeau on their march from Providence, Rhode Island to rendezvous with the Continental Army under General George Washington. Four divisions passed through, each one day apart. One of Rochambeau's aides described Windham at the time as "a charming market town, where, incidentally, there were many pretty women at whose homes we passed the afternoon very agreeably." Of the camp site, he wrote, "A mile away is a beautiful river with a fine wooden bridge. We camped on its banks very comfortably, though hardly militarily."
March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Manship Road-Barstow Road is a historic site in Canterbury, Connecticut that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, for its evocation of the march route French commander Rochambeau's troops in 1781 and in 1782.
March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Old Canterbury Road is a historic site in Plainfield, Connecticut along the 1781 and/or 1782 march routes of Rochambeau's army. It includes a stretch of what is now Old Canterbury Road and a stretch of Canterbury Road whose environs evoke the period of the Rochambeau army's march. It is a 2-acre (0.81 ha) site that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Palmer Road is a linear historic district encompassing a portion of Connecticut Route 14 in eastern Scotland, Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 as an evocative surviving element of the march route of the French Army commanded by Rochambeau during the American Revolutionary War in 1781 and 1782.
The March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Bailey Road is a section of abandoned roadway that is a historic site in Bolton, Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The roadway is one of the most intact sections in Connecticut of the march route taken by French troops under the command of the Count de Rochambeau in 1781.
The Caleb Baldwin Tavern is a historic house at 32 Main Street in the Newtown Borough Historic District, located in Newtown, Connecticut, United States. Built c. 1763, the two-and-a-half-story house it is considered historically significant for its role in movement of French forces of Rochambeau, in which the building housed some of the army's officers in June 1781, en route to the Siege of Yorktown. It also an example of traditional 18th-century New England architecture, and retains some details from that time period. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 23, 2002.
Camps Nos. 10 and 41 of Rochambeau's Army, also known as Site No. 97-87D, is an historical archeological site that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. It encompasses the areas occupied by the French Army of Rochambeau during their marches across Connecticut in 1781 and 1783. One of the major encampment site is located on the grounds of the Hawley School, where a historic marker is placed.
March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Reservoir Road is a historic site in Newtown, Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Hutchinson Road is a 2-acre (0.81 ha) historic road section in Andover, Connecticut. The section of Hutchinson Road, laid out in the early 18th century and formerly an alignment of United States Route 6, formed part of the 1781-82 march routes of Rochambeau's army which contributed to American victory in the American Revolutionary War. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
The Fifth Camp of Rochambeau's Infantry, also known as Site 12-25, is a historic site and an archeological site in Bolton, Connecticut, on the march route of Rochambeau's army on its way to the Hudson River and ultimately to Yorktown, Virginia. It was used on four successive nights, the 22nd through the 25th of June, 1781, by the four divisions of Rochambeau's army. In the evenings, the French entertained locals by playing music and dancing with local women, on Bolton Green.
March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Ridgebury Road is a historic site in Ridgefield, Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.