Chesham is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

within the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Harrisville in Cheshire County,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Part of the village is 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 v ...

as the Chesham Village District, while the southernmost portions are included in the Pottersville District, also listed on the National Register. Chesham began as a nucleus of agricultural development in the early 19th century; the area saw increased development with the arrival of the railroad in 1880. This included the construction of the depot, and the adaptation by George Bemis of his property (across the street from the depot) as a livery stable. The area was given its name by George Chase, a summer visitor whose nearby estate in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

was called Chesham. The area's economic activity began to subside after the end of railroad service in 1936. Chesham has an elementary school called Wells Memorial School. It has about 55 pupils up to grade 6. The Community Church of Harrisville and Chesham was formed from Chesham Baptist Church and Harrisville Congregational Church. Chesham Baptist Church dates back to 1785. The church building was originally built in 1797, re-modeled in 1830, and again re-modeled in 1844. The historic district consists mainly of a stretch of Chesham Road, extending eastward from its junction with Roxbury and Silver Lake Roads. The junction is one of the village's central points, where the railroad station and a surviving store building are located, as is the temple-fronted Greek Revival house of George Bemis. There are six houses in the district, ranging in style from the Greek Revival to the Colonial Revival.

References

{{authority control Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Unincorporated communities in Cheshire County, New Hampshire Harrisville, New Hampshire Unincorporated communities in New Hampshire

See also

References