The Russells Mills Village Historic District is a historic district on Russells Mills, Rock O' Dundee, Slades Corner, Horseneck and Fisher Roads in

Dartmouth, Massachusetts Dartmouth ( Massachusett: ) is a coastal town in Bristol County, Massachusetts. Old Dartmouth was the first area of Southeastern Massachusetts to be settled by Europeans, primarily English. Dartmouth is part of New England's farm coast, which c ...

. It encompasses an area that was an early industrial center, flourishing from the 18th century into the early 19th century. The district was added to 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 1985.

Description and history

Russells Mills Village is approximately south of

US Route 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to ...

, on the western bank of the

Paskamanset River The Paskamanset River, also known as the Paskamansett River, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 river in New Bedford and Dartmouth, Massachusetts. The Paska ...

. The village is mainly stretched along Russells Mills and Horseneck Roads, and radiates along several other roads that extend from the village center. Just south of the village is a former mill pond that is one of the surviving elements of the village's industrial past. The village has about forty buildings, most of them wood-frame residences built in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It includes one house estimated to have been built in 1670, making it Dartmouth's oldest surviving structure, and the town's historic

animal pound An animal pound is a place where stray livestock were impounded. Animals were kept in a dedicated enclosure, until claimed by their owners, or sold to cover the costs of impounding. Etymology The terms "pinfold" and "pound" are Saxon in origi ...

, a stone enclosure built in 1831. Non-residential buildings include Davolls General Store, a Federal-period general store building, a (former) church built in 1830, and two schools. Although Dartmouth was settled as early as the 1650s, the Russells Mills area was not settled until the 1670s, when members of the Russell family arrived at the mouth of Destruction Brook at the Paskamanset River. The river was soon dammed, and the Russells began industrial activity with mills for grinding grain and sawing lumber. The area flourished economically, with a number of other milling operations taking advantage of the water power provided by both the river and Destruction Brook. In the mid-18th century a modest shipyard was established in the area. The village flourished into the 1850s, by which time its mills were eclipsed by more substantial works at Padanaram and

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

. As a result, most of the architecture in the village is either Georgian, Federal, or Greek Revival, reflecting the styles popular at the height of its prosperity.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Historic districts in Bristol County, Massachusetts Dartmouth, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Bristol County, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

Description and history

See also

References