Taftsville Historic District | |
Location | Portions of US 4, Upper River Rd., Quechee Main St., all Butternut Ln., Happy Valley Rd., Sugar Hill Rd., Woodstock, Vermont, with portions in Hartford and Hartland |
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Coordinates | 43°37′46″N72°28′26″W / 43.62944°N 72.47389°W |
Area | 202 acres (82 ha) |
Built | 1793 |
Architect | Martin, Eben; Taft, D. and Sons |
Architectural style | Federal, Greek Revival, et al. |
NRHP reference No. | 01000824 [1] |
Added to NRHP | August 2, 2001 |
The Taftsville Historic District encompasses a historic 19th-century industrial village that is mostly in Woodstock, Vermont. Flanking the Ottauquechee River and extending up Happy Valley Road, the area developed around a metal tool factory established by members of the Taft family in 1793. Important elements from its early history include the Taftsville Store, built by the Taft family in 1840, and the Taftsville Covered Bridge, built in 1836. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. [1]
The village of Taftsville is centered around the junction of United States Route 4 and Happy Valley Road in far eastern Woodstock. It extends along secondary roads (mainly Happy Valley Road and Sugar Hill Road), and includes properties neighboring Hartland and Hartford, both just east of Woodstock. The majority of its buildings are residential in character, and were built in the 19th century. They are typically wood frame structures either 1-1/2 or 2-1/2 stories in height, although there are a few brick houses. The village's industrial past is primarily recalled by the dam across the Ottauquechee River, which now powers a hydroelectric plant on the river's southern bank, adjacent to the covered bridge. The Taftsville Store, built in 1840, is a prominent landmark on US 4, a major transport artery in the area. A former school building, now serving as a Mennonite chapel, stands on Happy Valley Road; it was built in 1911, and has Colonial Revival features. [2]
Settlement of the village began in 1793, when Stephen Taft, a native of Uxbridge, Massachusetts arrived. He and two of his brothers dammed the river, established a sawmill on the north bank, and a metalworking shop in the south bank, producing scythes, axes, and other tools in the latter. The business was a success, and flourished into the late 19th century despite its original main building's destruction by fire in 1811. The surviving covered bridge was built in 1836 to handle increasing traffic (across an earlier footbridge), and the store was built in 1840. It is unclear if the Tafts built the store as a place to sell their wares, or as a service to their growing number of employees. The village was originally more roughly divided between Woodstock and Hartland, but a town boundary adjustment in 1851 placed most of the village into Woodstock. [2]
Woodstock is an incorporated village located within the town of Woodstock in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 900.
Woodstock is the shire town of Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,005. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock, Taftsville, and West Woodstock.
The Ottauquechee River is a 41.4-mile-long (66.6 km) river in eastern Vermont in the United States. It is a tributary of the Connecticut River, which flows to Long Island Sound.
U.S. Route 4 (US 4) in the U.S. state of Vermont extends for 66.059 miles (106.312 km) between the New York state line at Fair Haven and the New Hampshire state line at White River Junction. It is one of the main arteries between New York and New Hampshire.
The Lower Cox Brook Covered Bridge is a wooden covered bridge that crosses Cox Brook in Northfield, Vermont on Cox Brook Road. Built in 1872, it is one of five surviving 19th-century covered bridges in the town, in the only place in Vermont where two historic bridges are visible from each other. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The Gilead Brook Bridge is a historic bridge which carries Vermont Route 12 across Gilead Brook north of the center of Bethel, Vermont. Built in 1928, it is one of four multi-span Warren deck truss bridges built in the state after extensive flooding in 1927. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Best's Covered Bridge(akaSwallow's Bridge) is a historic covered bridge in West Windsor, Vermont, that carries Churchill Road over Mill Creek, just south of Vermont Route 44. Built in 1889, it is an architecturally distinctive laminated arch structure with a post-and-beam superstructure. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The Bridgewater Woolen Mill, now more commonly the Bridgewater Mill Mall, is a historic textile mill complex on United States Route 4 in Bridgewater and Woodstock, Vermont. With an textile processing history dating from 1828 to 1975, it was one of the state's longest-lived textile operations, and was a mainstay of the local economy during that period. It has since been repurposed into a shopping center. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
The Taftsville Covered Bridge is a timber-framed covered bridge which spans the Ottauquechee River in the Taftsville village of Woodstock, Vermont, in the United States. Built in 1836 and exhibiting no influence from patented bridge designs, it is among the oldest remaining covered bridges both in Vermont and the nation as a whole.
The Dewey House is a historic house at 173 Deweys Mills Road in Hartford, Vermont. Built in 1876 by a local mill owner, and remodeled in 1903, it is a high quality local example of residential Colonial Revival architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
The Charles Marsh Law Office is a historic building at 72 Hartland Hill Road in Woodstock, Vermont. Now a private residence, this moved and altered structure, built about 1797, is the oldest surviving example of a detached law office in the state. It was built for lawyer Charles Marsh, and is where his sons George Perkins Marsh and Lyndon Arnold Marsh trained for and/or practiced law. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
The Joseph and Daniel Marsh House is a historic farmstead at 1119 Quechee Main Street, just outside the village Quechee in Hartford, Vermont. Built in 1793, it was the home of Joseph Marsh, one of Hartford's early settlers and the first Lieutenant Governor of Vermont. Now the Quechee Inn, the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
The Ottauquechee River Bridge is a steel girder bridge carrying United States Route 5 across the Ottauquechee River in Hartland, Vermont. The bridge replaced a c. 1930 Warren deck truss bridge, built in the wake of Vermont's devastating 1927 floods, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The Quechee Gorge Bridge is a historic bridge, carrying U.S. Route 4 (US 4) across Quechee Gorge, near the Quechee village of Hartford, Vermont. Built in 1911, it is Vermont's oldest surviving steel arch bridge. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The Quechee Historic Mill District encompasses the historic heart of the village of Quechee, Vermont, a well-preserved 19th-century mill village. Extending along Quechee Main Street between the Old Quechee Road and the Quechee-West Hartford Road, the village was settled in the 1760s, and has an industrial history extending into the 20th century. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
The Springfield Downtown Historic District encompasses the historic central business district of the town of Springfield, Vermont. Located in a narrow valley on the banks of the Black River, the town's architecture is primarily reflective of its importance as a manufacturing center in the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries, with a cluster of commercial buildings surrounded by residential and industrial areas. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and enlarged slightly in 1986.
The West Woodstock Bridge is a historic steel bridge, carrying Mill Road across the Ottauquechee River in the village of West Woodstock, Vermont. Built in 1900, it is the oldest documented Pennsylvania through truss bridge in the state. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
The Willard Covered Bridge is a historic covered bridge carrying Mill Street across the Ottauquechee River in Hartland, Vermont. It is the eastern of two covered bridges on the road, which are connected via a small island in the river; the western bridge was built in 2001. This bridge, built about 1870, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The Woodstock Warren Through Truss Bridge was a historic iron bridge that carried Bridges Road across the Ottauquechee River in western Woodstock, Vermont. The bridge was built in 1925, and was a rare example of the state of a double-intersection Warren through truss. The bridge was swept away by flooding caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
West Woodstock is an unincorporated village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Woodstock, Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 401.