Aspetuck is a village, which in Connecticut is an unincorporated community on the
Aspetuck River
The Aspetuck 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 Connecticut. The river rises in the hills located in Huntington State Pa ...
, in
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Fairfield County is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 957, ...
, mostly in the town of
Easton but extending also into
Weston
Weston may refer to:
Places Australia
* Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Weston, New South Wales
* Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra
* Weston Park, Canberra, a park
Canada
* Weston, Nova Scotia
* ...
.
It is significant for being the location of the Aspectuck Historic District, a well-preserved collection of houses from the 18th and 19th centuries. The area was settled in the 17th century. It was a long-time home of
Helen Keller. According to a New York Times real estate section article, "The district gets its name from the Aspetuck Indians, who lived along the river. In 1670, they sold the land to English settlers for cloth, winter wheat and maize valued at $.36."
[ Weston was incorporated in 1787, and Easton was split out and incorporated in 1845.][
]
Aspetuck Historic District
The Aspetuck Historic District is a historic district that preserves part of the historic village. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1991.[ It occupies about on the banks of the Aspetuck River and includes the oldest section of Easton. The 22 houses in the historic district date from 1750 to 1850.][ Some structures in the district are examples of ]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 archit ...
architecture.[ The district is considered significant for being a "Connecticut farming community that hasn't seen much change" and the home of Helen Keller in her later years.][Mary McAleer Vizard]
If You're Thinking of Living in: Easton
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', Published: Sunday, April 14, 1991 Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf, often walked through the neighborhood by herself, using as her guide a fence that extended down to the Aspetuck River.[
The historic district is defined to "exclude excessive back acreage" and also "the district stops short of the historical extent of the community in order to exclude an area where the majority of buildings would be noncontributing due to alterations or recent origin."][
The district "is significant because it embodies the distinctive architectural and cultural-landscape characteristics of a farming community from the late colonial and early national periods.... The widely spaced distribution of houses, most accompanied by a barn and all with ample yards that once served as pasture, field or garden recalls the appearance of an inland Connecticut farming community when agriculture was the basis of the local economy. The predominant type of building in the district—the traditional center-chimney, gable-roofed dwelling—is also characteristic of Connecticut farming communities of the late 18th and early 19th centuries...."][ and ]
The district is significant because a house on Redding "was the long-time home of Helen Keller, who lost her hearing and sight at an early age, and whose long struggle to overcome these handicaps has provided inspiration to millions...."[
Significant structures in the district include:
*Orando Perry House, 1840, which "displays the impact of Greek Revival architecture house with in its small porch with Doric columns and flush-boarded ]pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedim ...
"
*Bradley House, 7 Old Redding Road
*Helen Keller House, 1946, 163 Redding Road, "a true Colonial Revival dwelling, built in the 20th century after late 18th-century precedents, rather than the 20th-century modification of an earlier house"[ It has a denticular cornice and a "pedimented entry shelter on Tuscan columns", among other details.][
*Peter Williams House, 1810, 65 Redding Road
*David Bradley House, 1790, 135 Redding Road
*a bridge (Connecticut Dept. of Transportation Bridge #4933), a reinforced concrete arch bridge with cobblestone-faced spandrels and ]parapets
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Wher ...
, from 1941
*a dam, a rubble-stone dam from mid-19th century at the site of the Orando Perry grist mill
See also
*
References
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Easton, Connecticut
Historic districts in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Neighborhoods in Connecticut
Connecticut placenames of Native American origin
Colonial Revival architecture in Connecticut
Weston, Connecticut
Villages in Fairfield County, Connecticut