Old Curtisville Historic District | |
Location | Stockbridge, Massachusetts |
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Coordinates | 42°18′57″N73°19′57″W / 42.31583°N 73.33250°W |
Area | 170 acres (69 ha) |
Built | 1834 |
Architectural style | Greek Revival, Second Empire, Federal |
NRHP reference No. | 76000250 [1] |
Added to NRHP | October 29, 1976 |
Old Curtisville Historic District encompasses the village center of Interlaken in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is historically significant as the site of the first wood-based newsprint paper mill in the United States, and has a well-preserved collection of late 18th and early 19th-century architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. [1]
The area now known as Interlaken, [2] is located in northern Stockbridge, between Stockbridge Bowl (originally Lake Mahkeenac) and Lake Averic (also known as Echo Lake), which is the town of Stockbridge's water supply. Massachusetts Route 183 transects the community north to south. The road roughly parallels Larrywaug Brook, the outflow of Stockbridge Bowl. In the 18th century, this section of brook was developed industrially, and by the 1820s had at least seven mills, a foundry, distillery, and a thriving village center. The village was bypassed by the railroad, which ultimately led to the failure of many of these enterprises. It saw a brief resurgence in its economy after the American Civil War, when the Pagenstacher Paper Mill, the nation's first wood-pulp paper mill, operated here. Like the earlier business, it eventually left the village due to the poor transit situation. Around the turn of the 20th century the village began to be seen as part of the Berkshire's summer resort area. Its post office was renamed from Curtisville to Interlaken in 1902. [3]
The historic district is roughly triangular in shape, its main axes on Interlaken Road (Route 183), Train Hill Road, and Averic Road. It is about 170 acres (69 ha) in size, with 53 historically significant buildings, and the ruins of upward of twenty water-based mills. Among ts noteworthy historic buildings are the Interlaken Congregational Church (1824), the Citizens Hall (1870), and the Bancroft-Curtisville Hotel, once the location of the St. Helen's Home. [3] The church and hotel are now private residences and the hall is the site of the IS 183 Art School of the Berkshires. St. Helen's Home was sponsored by the New York Tribune's Fresh Air Fund in the opening decades of the twentieth century. The Fund enabled children from some of New York City's poorest neighborhoods to experience several weeks of summer respite in rural locations in upstate New York and New England. [4]
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridge is home to the Norman Rockwell Museum, Naumkeag, a public garden and historic house, the Austen Riggs Center, and Chesterwood, home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French.
Canaan is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 1,570 at the 2020 census, down from 1,710 at the 2010 census. The town is in the northeastern part of the county.
Lee is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, metropolitan statistical area. The population was 5,788 at the 2020 census. Lee, which includes the villages of South and East Lee, is part of the Berkshires resort area.
Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, a ski resort, Great Barrington includes the villages of Van Deusenville and Housatonic.
Tanglewood is a music venue and festival in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the Tanglewood Music Center, Tanglewood Learning Center, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Besides classical music, Tanglewood hosts the Festival of Contemporary Music, jazz and popular artists, concerts, and frequent appearances by James Taylor, John Williams, and the Boston Pops.
The National Register of Historic Places is a United States federal official list of places and sites considered worthy of preservation. In the state of Massachusetts, there are over 4,300 listings, representing about 5% of all NRHP listings nationwide and the second-most of any U.S. state, behind only New York. Listings appear in all 14 Massachusetts counties.
The Mission House is an historic house located at 19 Main Street, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It was built between 1741 and 1742 by a Christian missionary to the local Mahicans. It is a National Historic Landmark, designated in 1968 as a rare surviving example of a colonial mission house. It is now owned and operated as a nonprofit museum by the Trustees of Reservations.
Wheatleigh is a historic country estate on West Hawthorne Road in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, United States. Built in 1893 to a design by Peabody and Stearns, it is one of the few surviving great Berkshire Cottages of the late 19th century, with grounds landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted. Its estate now reduced to 22 acres (8.9 ha), Wheatleigh was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It is now operated as a hotel.
Massachusetts Route 183 (MA 183) is a 31.94-mile-long (51.40 km) north–south state highway in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The entire route travels from a continuation of Connecticut Route 183 by Colebrook, Connecticut, to U.S. Route 7 and US 20 in Lenox.
Citizens Hall is a historic municipal building at 13 Willard Hill Road in Interlaken, a village of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Built in 1870 as a schoolhouse and community meeting center, it is a well-preserved local example of Second Empire architecture. The hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and included as a contributing property in the Old Curtisville Historic District in 1976. It now houses Berkshire Art Center.
The Glendale Power House is a historic power station on the Housatonic River, just off Massachusetts Route 183 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The 1905 power house, built for the Monument Mills, was one of the first places in the United States where electricity was generated for the purpose of providing power to an industrial facility. The station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The facility has been rehabilitated and converted into modernized hydroelectric power generation plant.
The Rising Paper Mill is a historic factory at 295 Park Street North, in the Housatonic village of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Built in 1873 for H.D. Cone, it is one of the best-preserved examples of period mill architecture in Berkshire County. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. In 2008, the facility was purchased by Hazen Paper, which announced plans to manufacture multi-ply laminated paper for packaging.
Shadow Brook Farm Historic District is located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is a historic district that includes six re-purposed farm buildings related to the former 'Shadowbrook' mansion destroyed by fire in 1956. Designed by architect H. Neill Wilson with landscaping by Frederick Law Olmsted, the mansion and farm buildings were built for Anson Phelps Stokes in 1893. Andrew Carnegie acquired Shadowbrook in 1917 and died there in 1919. It served as a Jesuit novitiate from 1922 until 1970. Following the fire, a non-equivalent structure of the same name took its place and currently is home to the Kripalu Center. Today the historic district primarily encompasses Berkshire Country Day School, which acquired its campus from the Stokes family in 1963. The historic district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The South Lee Historic District encompasses the historic portion of the village of South Lee in Lee, Massachusetts. Extending mainly along Massachusetts Route 102 between Fairview Street and the Stockbridge town line, the village is a well-preserved 19th-century mill village, with fine Federal and Greek Revival buildings and a later 19th-century paper mill. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
The North Hadley Historic District encompasses the historic rural village of North Hadley, located between Mount Warner and the Connecticut River in Hadley, Massachusetts. It includes properties on River Drive between Stockwell Road and Stockbridge Street, and includes properties on French, Meadow and Mt. Warner Streets. It is a well-preserved example of a rural farming and mill community, with architecture dating from the late 18th to early 20th centuries. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
Yokun Ridge consisting mainly of West Stockbridge Mountain and the Lenox Mountain massif, is a ten-mile stretch of the Taconic Mountains south of Pittfield, Mass. The term was invented in 1971 by a conservation group to draw attention to a perceived geographical continuity. The name was accepted in 2009 by the United States Board on Geographic Names. The area is notable for its recreational and scenic value, as well as its conserved land and proximity to the tourist attractions of Lenox and Stockbridge. Yokun Ridge is in West Stockbridge, Stockbridge, Lenox, Richmond, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Approximately one-third of the zone is protected as open space reserve, municipal watershed, and wildlife sanctuary.
H. (Henry) Neill Wilson was an architect with his father James Keys Wilson in Cincinnati, Ohio; on his own in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and for most of his career in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The buildings he designed include the Rookwood Pottery building in Ohio and several massive summer cottages in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
Stockbridge Bowl, also known as Lake Mahkeenac, is a 372-acre (1.51 km2) artificially impounded body of water that is 2.5 miles (4 km) north of the village of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Above the lake's north side with sweeping views to the south is Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
This article addresses the history of papermaking in Massachusetts.
The Whitingham Village Historic District encompasses much of the current village center of Whitingham, Vermont. It was developed mainly in the second half of the 19th century around industries powered by local water sources, and includes well-preserved architecture from that period. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.