South Coventry Historic District
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The South Coventry Historic District is a historic district encompassing the historic village center of South Coventry in the town of
Coventry, Connecticut Coventry ( ) is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut. The population was 12,235 at the 2020 census. The birthplace of Captain Nathan Hale, Coventry is home to the Nathan Hale Homestead, which is now a museum open to the public. Coventry was i ...
. The village, settled in the early 18th century, has served as Coventry's civic center, and also served as an economic center, with
textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...
s operating in the 19th century. The district 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.


Description and history

South Coventry was settled beginning in 1707, and Coventry was incorporated in 1712. During the 18th century, the area was agricultural, with a grist mill on nearby Mill Brook. The village green was laid at Lake and High Streets by 1730, and served as a militia training and muster ground for the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
and the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. In the 19th century, there was a small industrial center including mills powered by the water from Coventry Lake Brook as it flowed towards the
Willimantic River The Willimantic River is a tributary of the Shetucket River, approximately 25 mi (40 km) long in northeastern Connecticut in the New England region of the United States. It is formed in northern Tolland County, near Stafford Springs ...
. South Coventry also includes several Victorian houses, a museum, the main branch of the public library, and the Bidwell Tavern, a bar/restaurant established in 1822. A few doors down is the W.L Wellwood General Store, under new ownership, has been renamed "Coventry Arts and Antiques". The general store was originally built in 1787 making it one of, if not the oldest general store in the United States (a past owner claimed to have not found an older store).
/ref> The historic district extends mainly along Main Street ( Connecticut Route 31), between Stonehouse and Armstrong Roads, roughly paralleling Mill Brook to the south. It also extends southward along Lake Street to High Street, and along Wall and Prospect Streets, which run south of Mill Brook. It covers about , and includes more than 200 contributing elements. In addition to the surviving buildings, there are remnants of industrial activity along the brook, and the Captain Nathan Hale Monument, the nation's first major monument to the American Revolutionary War, placed in honor of Coventry's native son, Nathan Hale, and Patriots Park, a lakefront park that was a former Salvation Army summer camp.


See also

* South Coventry CDP *
National Register of Historic Places listings in Tolland County, Connecticut __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Tolland County, Connecticut. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Tolland County, C ...


References


External links


Historic buildings in CoventryMap of South Coventry
{{authority control Coventry, Connecticut Villages in Connecticut Historic districts in Tolland County, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Tolland County, Connecticut Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut